Animal Welfare Indicators 3rd Annual Conference Prague 13-15th May 2014

Transcription

1 Animal Welfare Indicators 3rd Annual Conference Prague 13-15th May 2014

2 Meeting Programme Tuesday 13 th May Work Package Discussions Meeting room open (signage in place) Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague Project Management Group Meeting Partner Representatives (All Welcome) Registration All Delegates Welcome & plan for meeting Adroaldo J. Zanella WP3, Brain & Behaviour effects of prenatal Discussion Session environment Chair : David Fraser WP2, New approaches to assess pain Discussion Session Chair : Bjarne Braastad WP4, Challenges & effectiveness of web Discussion Session based resources Chair : Rob Malinowski WP1, Indicators to assess positive affective Discussion Session states (QBA & others) Chair : Don Broom 20:00 22:00 Reception; Drinks & Canapés Hotel Galaxie Wednesday 14th May AWIN Members Day 09: Summary of WP Sessions (15 Min Each) All delegates Integration of indicators All delegates Coffee Contribution of AWIN the future/legacy All delegates Mainstreaming the AWIN principles in the EU policies Paolo Dalla-Villa, DG SANCO for animal welfare Future opportunities for grants Adroaldo J. Zanella General assembly All delegates 13: Lunch & Poster Session Field Trip All delegates (including stakeholders if desired) 20:30 22:30 Formal Dinner The Augustine, Thursday 15 th May Stakeholder Day 08:45 09:00 Registration All delegates 09:00 09:15 Welcome & Introduce stakeholders Adroaldo J. Zanella 09:15 09:35 Animal Welfare Assessment on farm (how WPs Adroaldo J. Zanella integrate) Welfare Assessment Protocols (WP1 Highlights, Talks) Elisabetta Canali Coffee Species specific sessions draft protocols & research highlights : Education Adroaldo J. Zanella Equine Michela Minero Sheep & Goats George Stilwell & Roberto Ruiz Turkeys Valentina Ferrante 11: Showcase Learning Objects (interactive session) Fritha Langford & Andreia Vieira Lunch & Poster Session Pain, Disease & Animal Welfare (WP2 Highlights, Dirk Lebelt Talks) Welfare of the pregnant animal and it s offspring (WP3 Inger-Lise Andersen Highlights, Talks) Feedback from Stakeholders in Species groups Species Groups Summary of feedback from Stakeholders & Discussion All Delegates Closing Session (prize giving) Adroaldo J. Zanella PMG meeting (with external advisors) summary discussion, actions arising. Management Group & Advisors Note: stakeholders are welcome to attend the field trip & formal dinner on the Wednesday evening. Field trip: visit to National stud & museum (

3 Welcome On behalf of the 11 partners, from 9 countries, participating in the Welfare Indicators Project ( AWIN ) I wish to welcome everyone to our 3 rd annual meeting. The meeting, which is hosted by our partner institution Vyzkumny Ustav Zivocisne Vyroby V.V.I Uhrineves, in the beautiful historical city of Prague, promises to deliver an outstanding environment to foster effective communication among the AWIN project partners, stakeholders and interested parties. The primary goal of this event is to establish a strategic plan to facilitate the continuity of the AWIN project legacy. AWIN partners are particularly interested in developing a plan to implement the validated welfare and pain indicators developed in the project. We would also like to explore opportunities to maintain and to expand the Animal Welfare Science Hub ( which is one of the most influential, peer reviewed, portals to communicate animal welfare science in the world. Enjoy the AWIN 3 rd annual meeting. Professor Adroaldo J. Zanella Scientific Coordinator, AWIN Project adroaldo.zanella@usp.br Meeting Details Meeting Venue, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, On 1 January 1995 the University of Agriculture in Prague was renamed as the Czech University of Agriculture in Prague. In 1998, in accordance with the governmental act 111/1998 Coll., the Czech University of Agriculture became a public university, with a great deal of autonomy in matters related to development of new study programmes (including study programmes taught entirely in English), voting of new Rectors by the university Academic Senate, and overall autonomy for development of infrastructure and new strategic plans, including membership in relevant international university networks and consortia. In 2007 the English name of the university was changed to Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. Campus Map; Reception Venue, Hotel Galaxie, Address; Suchdolské nám. 9, Praha 6 Suchdol Tel.: , Formal Dinner Venue, The Augustine (Restaurant), Address; Letenská 12/33, Prague Tel; Everyone on the fieldtrip will be dropped off here at 20:20 on Wednesday 14 th. A bus (returning to the Galaxie) will be available after the meal. Meeting contact, Neil Ramsay, neil.ramsay@sruc.ac.uk

4 Contents Work Package 1 Work Package 2 Work Package 3 Work Package 4 Welfare assessment, including pain Welfare consequences of diseases Prenatal and early-postnatal environment, and animal welfare Global hub for research and education in animal welfare ITEM CONTENT PAGE Welcome Welcome to 3rd Annual Meeting 1 Attendance List Delegates & Addresses 5 AWIN Project Overview 7 Work Package Discussions 13th May: 8 WP2 Abstract Facial expressions as pain indicator in horses 9 WP2 Abstract Facial expression as a pain indicator in small ruminants 10 WP2 Abstract Thermography as pain-indicator in sheep: foot rot as an example 11 WP2 Abstract Thermography as pain-indicator in goats 12 WP2 Abstract Heart rate variability (HRV) as pain indicator in horses 13 WP4 Abstract Challenges and effectiveness of web-based resources 14 Abstracts: Stakeholder Day 15 th May: 16 Presentation Welfare Assessment Protocols 17 Presentation Lameness in goats the results from the web survey 19 Presentation Presentation i-watchturkey: A smartphone application for on-farm turkeys health and welfare assessment Interactions with equine stakeholders, feasibility constraints to the application of the prototype protocol and possible solutions Presentation Developing digital learning materials from animal welfare science: 22 learning objects Presentation Pain, Disease and Animal Welfare 24 Presentation Facial expression as a pain indicator in sheep 25 Presentation Using farm routine procedures to reduce pain in dairy goats 26 Presentation Indicators of pain in sheep suffering from pregnancy toxaemia

5 ITEM CONTENT PAGE Presentation Post castration pain control in horses 28 Presentation Prenatal and early postnatal effects on offspring development 29 Presentation Presentation Presentation Space allowance in gestating ewes and early postnatal separation: Impact on the coping abilities of newborn lambs Prenatal social environment and the effects on the behavioral development and cognition of goat kids: a thesis overview Assessment of the impact of variation in prenatal handling on maternal provisioning in dairy goats Thesis Strategies for optimizing animal welfare assessment including pain 34 Poster Does handling experience alter the response of sheep to the presence of an unfamiliar human? 35 Poster Poster Poster Poster Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of intensive and extensive goat farms Indicators of thermal comfort for on-farm welfare assessment in dairy goats Preliminary results on the on-farm use of the AWIN prototype welfare assessment protocol for donkeys Transect walks: method sensitivity for on-farm welfare evaluation in turkeys Poster Validation of a fear test in sport horses using infrared thermography 40 Poster An innovative tool for on-farm data collection and information sharing 41 Poster Poster Assessing inter and intra-observer reliability in animal-based welfare indicators in dairy sheep Stakeholders input on prototype welfare assessment protocols for horses and donkeys Poster Does the presence of abscesses affect dairy goats welfare? Poster AWIN Body Condition Scale a new tool for body condition assessment in goats 45 Poster Early signs of Pregnancy Toxaemia in Goats 46 Poster Farmers and Veterinarians Perceptions of Lameness and Pain in 47 Sheep Poster Work developed by Workpackage 2 in Portugal 48 Poster Poster The Animal Welfare Science Hub: a repository of courses in animal welfare at various levels Learning objects in animal pain: effect on learning and attitudes towards animal pain Poster Producing digital learning materials on animal pain 51 3

6 ITEM CONTENT PAGE Poster Poster Poster The Animal Welfare Science Hub: an open content management system that enhances animal welfare education and research Evaluation of digital learning objects on pain recognition for veterinary students: nationality and study-stage effects The HGS (Horse Grimace Scale) App: a mobile solution that trains users to assess pain in horses Poster Digital learning materials on assessing pain and disease in sheep 55 Poster Digital learning materials on the behavioural development of goats 56 Poster Digital learning materials on lamb survival 57 Poster Facial expressions of pain in horses: the Horse Grimace Scale 58 learning object AWIN AWIN Consortium, Member Institutes 59 4

7 Attendance Partner Stakeholder Advisor DELEGATE INSTITUTE Country Adele Douglass Humane Farm Animal Care USA Adroaldo Zanella USP Brasil Andreia De Paula Vieira Positivo University Brasil Andrew Voas Scottish Government UK Anna-Caroline Wohr International Society of Livestock Husbandry Germany Anne Algers SLU Sweden Ashleigh Brown The Brooke UK Birte Nielsen ISAE France Bjarne O. Braastad NMBU Norway Carlos Rebelo Cambridge University UK Cathy Dwyer SRUC UK Christiane Müller German National Equestrian Association Germany David Fraser OIE (SSC) Canada Diana Stucke Havelland Equine Clinic Germany Dirk Lebelt Havelland Equine Clinic Germany Don Broom NMBU Norway Elisabetta Canali UMIL Italy Emanuela Dalla Costa UMIL Italy Emma Baxter SRUC UK Dept of Veterinary Public Health & Animal Czech Eva Voslarova Welfare Rep Fernando C-Casas Cambridge University UK Francesca Dai UMIL Italy Fritha Langford SRUC UK George Stilwell UTL Portugal Hannah Westen World Horse Welfare UK Ina Beltran de Heredia Neiker Spain Ines Ajuda UTL Portugal Inger Lise Andersen NMBU Norway Inma Estevez Neiker Spain Joanna Marchewka Neiker Spain Jorg Hartung University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Germany Krista McLennan Cambridge University UK Leopoldo Stuardo OIE Chile Lindsay Matthews Istituto Caporale Teramo Italy Malcolm Mitchell SRUC UK Marc Cooper RSPCA UK Margit H. zeitler-feicht Technical University of Munich Germany Maria Alice Pires Moreira Federal University of Semiarido Brasil 5

8 DELEGATE INSTITUTE Country Maria Veggeland Norwegian Food Safety Authority Norway Mark Kennedy WSPA UK Martina Komarkova IAS Prague Czech Rep Michaela Olleova IAS Prague Czech Rep Michela Minero UMIL Italy Miriam Baumgartner Technical University of Munich Germany Czech Miroslava Pokorna IAS Prague Rep Monica Battini UMIL Italy Neil Ramsay SRUC UK Paolo Dalla-Villa DG SANCO Belgium Philipp Scholz Havelland Equine Clinic Germany Rachel Chojnacki NMBU Norway Rob Malinoski Michigan State University (SSC) USA Roberto Ruiz Neiker Spain Czech Romana Sonkova Compassion in world farming Rep Sara Barbieri UMIL Italy Silvana Mattiello UMIL Italy Sophie Butcher RSPCA UK Stefano Messori G. Caporale -Teramo Italy Susan Richmond SRUC UK Tatiane Watanabe UMIL Italy Torunn Knaevelsrud Norwegian Food Safety Authority Norway Valentina Ferrante UMIL Italy Xavi Averos Neiker Spain 6

9 Project Overview. The EC-funded WELFARE INDICATORS (AWIN) project ( highlights the need for a science-based approach to assess and to improve animal welfare, collaborating extensively with stakeholders and interested parties to establish global networks of excellence. The AWIN project aims a) to develop and test animal welfare indicators, including indicators of pain, for sheep, goats, horses, donkeys and turkeys; b) to assess the relationship between diseases and animal welfare; c) to study the contribution of prenatal and early-postnatal environments on animal welfare and health outcomes and d) to communicate effectively with stakeholders and interested parties on animal welfare research, teaching, and outreach opportunities. After an extensive scientific review of existing welfare and pain indicators, the outcomes were discussed with stakeholders and interested parties, to develop prototypes which currently under test on farms. In addition, a Europe-wide survey was conducted to assess knowledge of and attitudes towards pain and disease in production animals. Other work has focused on pain assessment and mitigation during horse castration and laminitis, disbudding of goat kids, tail docking in lambs and disease in sheep. The project partners have studied and reported on the effects of housing and management practices on the welfare of pregnant ewes and goats and their young. Pregnant mares were also studied in order to understand the factors that affect welfare outcomes in foals. These research outcomes are all being translated into applied learning materials to facilitate dissemination. AWIN has launched the Animal Welfare Science Hub ( to provide a one-stop-shop for those interested in animal welfare, to obtain details on courses, to have access to peer-reviewed learning materials, to share scientific animal welfare information and updates on the latest welfare news. The AWIN project will continue to develop and validate animal-based indicators of welfare and will encourage effective communication among scientists, interested parties and stakeholders. This should further the goal of implementing science-based policies for animal welfare across the world. Further information wil be presented and discussed at this meeting and a Period 2 report will be produced shortly, summarising the significant output to date. 7

10 Work Package Discussions 13 th May 8

11 Session: New approaches to assess pain Facial expressions as pain indicator in horses Diana Stucke 1, Emanuela Dalla Costa 2, Michela Minero 2, Matthew C. Leach 3, Elisabetta Canali 2 and Dirk Lebelt 1 1 Havelland Equine Hospital, Beetzsee, Germany 2 Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Publica, Milan, Italy 3 Newcastle University, School of Agriculture, Food & Rural Development, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK diana.stucke@pferdeklinik-havelland.de Existing pain assessment methods have several limitations, which reduce the applicability in everyday life. Assessment of facial expression changes, as a novel means of pain scoring, may offer numerous advantages and overcome some of these limitations. As part of the AWIN WP2 studies on pain and pain control after castration in stallions a Facial Expression Pain Scale (FEPS) based on previous descriptions of pain-associated facial expressions in the scientific literature has been developed and applied during direct observation of horses. Although this FEPS was able to detect pain after castration and to differentiate between tested pain-relieving protocols (see abstract Stucke et al.: Post castration pain control in horses), it showed some methodological problems: inter-observer agreement was acceptable (linear weighted kappa κ=0,57) but not excellent and observers were not completely blinded when doing the direct observations. Therefore, parallel and in close cooperation with WP1 the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) was developed and validated for post castration pain assessment [1] based on a method very similar to the one used for the previously published grimace scales for mice, rats and rabbits. This scale is composed of six facial action units: ears, above eye area, eyes, facial muscles, nostrils and mouth-part. Methods: Forty stallions were assigned to one of two treatment groups A (n=19) and B (n=21) and all animals underwent routine surgical castration under general anaesthesia. All horses received a single perioperative injection of flunixin. Group B received repeated administration of flunixin 6 hrs. after castration. In addition, six horses were used as anaesthesia controls (group C). These animals underwent non-invasive, indolent procedures, received the same treatment as group A, but did not undergo surgical procedures that could be accompanied with pain. Changes in behaviour and HGS scores were assessed before and 8-hours post-procedure on the basis of video tapes by time and treatment blinded observers. Additionally a Composite Pain Scale (CPS) was applied in direct observation. Results & conclusions: Only horses undergoing castration (groups A and B) showed significantly higher HGS and CPS scores at 8-hours post compared to pre operatively. Further, maintenance behaviours such as explorative behaviour and alertness were also reduced. No difference was observed between the two analgesic treatment groups. Inter-observer agreement for the HGS was excellent (ICC=0,92). In conclusion, the Horse Grimace Scale offers an effective and reliable method of assessing pain following castration in horses. Points for discussion: Using the HGS for other pain qualities and intensities needs further validation as well as the possible influence of other emotional states such as arousal. In order to get reliable scores the HGS needs some training especially when used by unexperienced persons. Therefore, dissemination and training strategies have to be developed carefully. Reference: [1] Dalla Costa E, Minero M, Lebelt D, Stucke D, Canali E and Leach M (2014) Development of the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) as a Pain Assessment Tool in Horses Undergoing Routine Castration. PLoS ONE 9(3): e

12 Session: New approaches to assess pain Facial expression as a pain indicator in small ruminants Krista M. McLennan, Carlos J. Rebelo, Murray J. Corke, Maria A. P. Moreira, Mark Holmes and Fernando Constantino-Casas Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK kmm55@cam.ac.uk The use of facial expression to assess pain in animals is a relatively new technique with promising results in laboratory animals. Small ruminants such as sheep and goats tend to hide signs of pain making pain identification and management difficult, and resulting in poor welfare. A facial expression scale for pain is being developed using pain associated with lameness due to footrot in sheep as a model. 58 adult sheep (mean =1.4yrs) on commercial farms were allocated to treatment only group (n=40), or matched pair non-diseased control group (n=18). Multiple photographs of each sheep were taken on the initial day of disease presentation (day 1) and three months later (day 90) after treatment, along with the lameness score and total lesion score. Preliminary studies identified five facial areas showing changes associated with lameness (orbital tightening, cheek tightening, ear position, lip and jaw profile and nostril and philtrum position), and two photographs for each sheep were used to perform the pain evaluation. Each photograph was randomly assigned to a single Microsoft Excel spread sheet so the observer was blind to treatment group. Photographs were scored twice for each facial area on a 3-point scale (0= not present, 1= moderately present, 2= obviously present) for day 1 and day 90 two months apart. An overall facial score assessment was made and used to allocate a pain score on a 3 point scale (1= mild pain, 2= moderate pain, 3= severe pain) for day 1 and day 90. The facial expression scale showed a good global accuracy of the pain assessment at 78% of sheep being correctly identified as either pain or no-pain, 15% of sheep were incorrectly identified as experiencing pain when they were either a control animal or were observed day 90 and only 6% of animals with footrot were not scored as in pain. The average facial score from all five areas reduced significantly (t = , df=56, p<0.001) from day 1 to day 90 suggesting a reduction in pain as the lesions healed. Total facial expression scores correlated well with total lesion (r s = 0.19, p=0.02), and lameness scores(r s = 0.22, p=0.003). The overall intra-rater reliability was α = 0.81 with nostril and philtrum position being the most reliable indicator with a correlation of α = From preliminary observations of lame goats, we are currently observing similar expressions of pain with similar areas of the face being involved, suggesting that a preliminary scale could be developed as more data becomes available. The sheep grimace score shows promise as a practical tool to assess pain in sheep and may also be applicable to goats. 10

13 Session: New approaches to assess pain Thermography as pain-indicator in sheep: footrot as an example Carlos Rebelo, Krista McLennan, Mark Holmes, Murray Corke, and Fernando Constantino- Casas Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK Pain assessment in farm animals and sheep in particular, is often difficult, as masking obvious signs of pain has been of evolutionary benefit to this species behaviour to prevent predator attacks. In order to ensure the welfare of these animals, the identification of alternative pain indicators is necessary. The use of non-invasive protocols, for instance the evaluation of sheep behaviour and facial expression of pain, as well as thermography analysis will improve the ability of carrying out animal welfare studies. Ovine footrot is a chronic disease causing lesions of the hoof and severe lameness, suggesting that footrot is a painful disease and significant on the welfare of sheep. The infection initially presents as an interdigital dermatitis with a subsequent separation and under-run of the horn. Infrared thermography pictures were used to evaluate the temperature of the interdigital skin of sheep with naturally occurring footrot. When inflammation or injury are present, temperatures can be higher due to increase blood flow. Since footrot is a disease where pain is associated with inflammation, infrared thermography might prove useful to recognize inflammation, as it has the ability to produce images in real time and identify temperature changes on specific anatomical sites. 13 sheep with footrot were observed using FLIR T335 thermography camera. A set of 3 infrared pictures was taken on affected and non-affected limbs: cranial view of the posterior part of the limb (analysis of the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints), plantar view of the hoof, and an oblique thermal picture of the interdigital space. Results show that the temperatures are higher in all of the sites measured for infected limbs in comparison with limbs without clinical signs, and that the mean difference between infected and noninfected hooves is approximately 4ºC. The mean temperature for the distal interphalangeal joint is 27.20ºC for limbs without clinical signs of footrot and 30.98ºC for limbs with footrot; 24.38ºC for the proximal interphalangeal joint in limbs without footrot and 27.73ºC for limbs with footrot. The mean temperatures recorded on the palmar aspect of the hoof for limbs without footrot was 24.03ºC and 29.80ºC for limbs with footrot. On the interdigital space, limbs without footrot presented a temperature of 32.34ºC, and infected limbs presented a mean temperature of 35.40ºC. Significant difference (p=0.002, independent sample t test) was found between the temperatures of the interdigital spaces of non-infected hooves and hooves infected with footrot. It was shown that infrared thermography is a useful tool to aid in the diagnosis of lesions of footrot in sheep. 11

14 Session: New approaches to assess pain Thermography as pain-indicator in goats Inês Ajuda and George Stilwell Veterinary Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon. Portugal Assessment of pain in farm animals can sometimes be difficult and remains highly subjective, being based mainly on indirect measures like physiological and behavioural parameters. Chronic pain normally produces some behavioural changes, but these changes are generally less apparent. Because of this, more objective measures are necessary to assess the level of pain felt in chronic diseases, such as lameness. Thermography can be used as a pain indicator, mainly due to its ability to detect inflammation. Infrared thermography can be useful to identify inflammation in certain diseases that affect locomotors system, not only because it has the advantage to produce images in real time, but also because it can help to detect temperature changes on specific anatomical sites. These temperature changes are determined by variation in local blood flow and fluid extravasation. The temperature can be raised when inflammation or injury are present, due to increase blood flow, or decreased due to reduced blood flow, edema or vasomotor tone. We have used the thermography mainly for the study of two potentially painful conditions in dairy goats: claw overgrowth and udder asymmetry. Claw overgrowth Claw overgrowth is associated with lameness and is considered has one of the most prevalent welfare problems in intensively kept dairy goats. This may be due to a purely mechanical restriction of movements, or to pain caused by pressure on swollen tissues, or to the association of both. In order to evaluate this we used an integrated approach with infrared thermography. We performed two studies on a commercial dairy farm, with approximately 1300 milking Alpine and Saanen goats. Udder asymmetry For the final welfare assessment protocol being developed by WP1, udder asymmetry was the indicator selected to evaluate udder lesions. There is still no evidence that the udder asymmetry is directly connected to goats health and welfare, but there are references on it being the most prevalent udder alteration in dairy goat farms. In order to perceive if asymmetric udders are related to tissue changes that cause discomfort to animals we used, among other indicators, thermographic images to record differences in temperature before and after goats are milked. No evident temperature differences between udders with and without conformation alterations have been found but results are still being analyzed at this date. Conclusions: Thermography images are useful to identify tissue changes that may be associated with pain in lame goats. However, results from this diagnostic method should be analyzed in parallel with other indicators 12

15 Session: New approaches to assess pain Heart rate variability (HRV) as pain indicator in horses Diana Stucke 1, Mareile Große Ruse 2, Jan Langbein 3 and Dirk Lebelt 1 1 Havelland Equine Hospital, Beetzsee, Germany 2 Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Mathematical Statistics, Lund University, Sweden 3 Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Dummerstorf, Germany diana.stucke@pferdeklinik-havelland.de Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between consecutive heartbeats. Determining these inter-beat-interval (IBI) variations is one way to measure changes in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in horses. As autonomic imbalance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system could be an indicator of stress or pain, a power spectrum analysis of HRV may provide in this regard insight into the mental state of the animal. The validity of a HRV analysis depends crucially on the accuracy of the IBI measurement. However, the measurement techniques and the analysis methods as well as the defined frequency bands for power spectrum analysis differ considerably depending on the research being carried out and therefore comparability of these studies is limited. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of heart rate variability (HRV) analysis to identify post castration pain in horses. Methods: 51 stallions undergoing routine castration under general anaesthesia were divided in 3 painrelieving treatment groups: A single peri-operative administration of flunixin (n=19); B additional subsequent flunixin administrations (n=21); D as group A, but with additional local anaesthesia of the spermatic cords (n=11). HRV was analysed in 300 sec sequences of recorded ECGs before and four times after surgery (up to 32 hrs) focussed on frequency-domain analysis (LF and HF). Pain related behaviour was additionally assessed by means of a modified Composite Pain Scale (CPS). The same parameters were measured in a control group C, undergoing general anaesthesia for different nonpainful procedures (n=6). Data was analysed using linear models followed by post hoc tests with alpha adjustment. Results: Measurement time point and treatment group, both had a significant impact on HRV and CPS (p<0.001). HF power increased, LF power decreased significantly in groups A and B 4 hrs after surgery (P 0,0002). Group C reacted in the opposite way and was significantly different from groups A and B (LF P 0,0002, HF P 0,0006) and D (LF P=0,001) 4 hrs after castration. CPS scores increased significantly in groups A and B (P 0,0016) but not in groups D or C at 4 and 8 hrs after castration. Conclusions: Post castration pain could be reliably measured and differentiated from the effect of anaesthesia by using HRV analysis. HRV measures demonstrated an increase in parasympathetic activity after castration that is in contrast to previously reported sympathetic activation as response to pain in other body regions. Points for Discussion: As measuring heart rate variability in horses was handled quite inconsistently in the past there seems to be a need for a better standardization of this method. The origin of pain from different body regions should be carefully taken into account when interpreting HRV changes. 13

16 Session: Challenges of web-based resources Challenges and effectiveness of web-based resources Fritha M Langford 5, Adroaldo J Zanella 2, Pericles Varella Gomes 1, Donald M Broom 3,4, Bjarne O Braastad 3, Judit Vas 3, Jill MacKay 5, Andreia De Paula Vieira 1 1 Universidade de Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 2 Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 3 Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås, Norway 4 University of Cambridge, U.K. 5 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK Fritha.langford@sruc.ac.uk The main aim of work package 4 (WP4) is to build competence in animal welfare science through the development of the Animal Welfare Science Hub ( that integrates applied and fundamental aspects in animal welfare research and creates a long-lasting relationship with stakeholders. We maintain our relationship with our stakeholders and interested parties (farmers, veterinarians, university students, legislators, teachers and NGOs) by providing access to scientifically valid education and training. The outcomes generated in the research work packages (WP1, 2 and 3) are being used by WP4 to provide educational materials for learning and training. Review of current teaching: In WP4 we have reviewed every programme at university level that includes 25% or more of its teaching on animal welfare or closely related topics. This has not been an easy task due to the range and number of programmes available, for example there are 82 undergraduate and postgraduate animal welfare or associated topic programmes in the UK alone. Added to this is the challenge of programmes being in multiple languages. The design of the animal welfare science hub will overcome this difficulty as course organisers will be able to upload their course details and do this in their own language. The biggest challenge we faced in the review of teaching was that from non-university teaching, which was advertised on a more ad-hoc basis especially teaching or training for either industry stakeholders or children and young people. Our solutions have included setting up stakeholder partnerships to understand the training already available. Producing an active database of animal welfare courses: After reviewing courses available, WP4 have listed courses related to any field of animal welfare and prepared them for efficient web browsing. Users of any level are able to search for courses that are being offered worldwide. They can find online or face-to-face courses locally and internationally, filter the search by species, target audience, price and time requirements of programmes. This section is unique in being global regarding geographical distribution, including programmes in national languages, for a wide range of possible audiences and still being user-friendly by different filter options and personal preferences. In this way students can benefit from the Hub by easily finding proper courses that they can attend from home when online or downloaded, or choose the most appropriate teaching program to apply for. On the other hand, teachers and course organisers have the opportunity on the Hub to advertise their online and other courses. The advantage of this is that the list remains up to date as course organisers can edit the entries as courses evolve over time in other words, a dynamic database as opposed to a static one. In cooperation with the International Society for Applied Ethology 14

17 (ISAE) teaching programmes will be evaluated by objective expert panels based on their pedagogic and scientific value according to the intended audience. Producing learning materials: One of our main tasks within the AWIN project was to produce high quality, scientifically valid and educationally effective learning materials from the research WPs of the project. This involved training the researchers in thinking about dissemination opportunities before the science had even started. At every stage, we have had to help the researchers see the goal of producing clear and efficient learning materials, not just peer-review scientific journal articles. At this stage of the project, we have built over 50% of our learning deliverables to the evaluation stage, so it appears we have overcome this significant challenge with our AWIN colleagues. The evaluations will test user-friendliness and educational effectiveness, so far our interactive user-centred materials have scored well against more traditional methods of learning. Engaging with stakeholders to provide a multi-topic learning on the AWS hub: Our biggest challenge is to engage stakeholders with our vision of science-based online learning. We have been successful in interacting with stakeholders at government, non-government producer and veterinary association level, but translating this into users for the Animal Welfare Science Hub is more difficult. The potential for the Hub to provide multi-topic animal welfare learning free of charge to use online or download has been shown to be attractive to stakeholder groups but like any new online tool, it requires constant feedback, updates and improvements to get it to work optimally. Constant improvements, promotion and interlinking with our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn social media are now starting to show success as numbers using the hub are building. With every event we must use all of these tools available to us to continue to build numbers. Provide training to PhD students involved with the project Another aim of the AWIN project was to provide a state-of-the-art training environment for PhD students and early career Post-doctoral staff. Within WP4, we wanted to introduce the web-based environment to our students and early careers scientists. Although most of them were very web-savvy, only one of our students had participated in a webinar and none had presented in an online collaborative environment. For the last in as series of PhD/PD training workshops, WP4 provided an online webinar platform for students to present their work. Additionally, we used the webinar platform to discuss and debate three pertinent topics: stakeholder interaction, careers post-phd and effective grant writing. Six students and three post-docs presented their work via the webinar. The workshop evaluation will be discussed. Conclusion: Moving information exchange to a web-based system allows for a more open, discursive and collaborative environment than using traditional resources. Our main challenge is to promote the use of our environment (the Animal Welfare Science Hub) over the many others available online. Our next biggest challenge is to keep a user interested once they reach our platform. Having a substantial amount of high quality learning materials and an up-to-date list of specific learning courses is our attempt to combat these challenges as it is only through constant use of such web-resources that they survive and grow. 15

18 AWIN Highlights Stakeholder day 15 th May 16

19 Session: Welfare Assessment Protocols Welfare Assessment Protocols -WP1 Highlights, Talks Elisabetta Canali and Sara Barbieri Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Milan, Italy elisabetta.canali@unimi.it AWIN Work Package 1 develops welfare assessment protocols, which include also pain evaluation. Researchers from six countries (UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and Czech Republic) are involved in developing and testing the protocols for on farm assessment in sheep, goats, horses, donkeys and turkeys. The project develops protocols for species with broadly different rearing systems from very intensive to pasture and different production systems from intensive milk production to extensive meat production, to working animals. Sheep team has been focused on extensive systems, while goat team has been focused on intensive dairy systems, the predominant husbandry conditions in the EU. For equine, the horse protocol addresses single housed sport and leisure horses used for different activities, while the donkey protocol will be applied to adult working donkeys, but the group will work at the definition of a protocol working for all animal categories and geographical areas. For turkey it was decided to focus on the development of indicators for intensively kept animals: due to differences in production systems, the on farm evaluation is based on transect approach. The transect methodology, used frequently in the area of ecology or population dynamics, has the advantage of being less time consuming as compared to other available methodologies and does not generate stress in the animals as does not imply any bird manipulation, which in the case of turkeys would be extremely problematic. WP1 species group are verifying the on-farm feasibility of the protocol prototypes in order to produce practical, feasible and reliable welfare assessment protocols for the 5 species. The approach is to propose a stepwise strategy for on-farm animal welfare assessment. The protocol will offer, as a first step, a quick screening consisting of a selection of robust and feasible indicators that can be readily and simply applied. The assessment could evolve into a larger and more in-depth evaluation. WP1 researchers are also promoting a participatory approach in this project through the involvement and the collaboration with stakeholders, in order to assure the effectiveness and the sustainability of the final assessment protocols. The following talks will highlight some of the WP1 research results and outcomes (see separate abstracts in the proceedings for more details): Lameness in goats the results from the web survey. i-watchturkey: A smartphone application for on-farm turkeys health and welfare assessment Results from stakeholders meetings, feasibility constraints to the application of the prototype protocol and possible solutions in equines The prototypes were developed through the collaboration with WP2 research on pain indictors and the outcomes of the WP1 research provide materials for learning objects realized by WP4. Further selected aspects of WP1 research are presented in the poster session: An innovative tool for on-farm data collection and information sharing Assessing inter and intra-observer reliability in animal-based welfare indicators in dairy sheep AWIN Body Condition Scale a new tool for body condition assessment in goats Does the presence of abscesses affect dairy goats welfare? Indicators of thermal comfort for on-farm welfare assessment in dairy goats Preliminary results on the on-farm use of the AWIN prototype welfare assessment protocol for donkeys Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of intensive and extensive goat farms 17

20 Stakeholders input on prototype welfare assessment protocols for horses and donkeys Transect walks: method sensitivity for on-farm welfare evaluation in turkeys Validation of a fear test in sport horses using infrared thermography 18

21 Session: Welfare Assessment Protocols Lameness in goats the results from the web survey Ana Vieira, Inês Ajuda, George Stilwell Veterinary Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon Lameness, generally defined as a deviation in gait, is an important behavioural indicator of pain and discomfort caused by hoof or limb injuries or diseases that negatively affects dairy ruminants feed intake, milk yield and fertility. Lameness can be assessed with objective or subjective methods. Subjective methods are based on the observation of animals using different lameness scoring systems but there is no consensus in literature regarding which type of scale to use in goats. The most common scales used for lameness assessment are numerical rating scales. However these scales are artificial constructs as lameness varies in a continuous trait; hence, when we only allow the observers to assess based on a determined number of levels we are losing a lot of valuable information and imposing a reduced sensibility on the scale. Another type of lameness assessment is the use of visual analogue scales (VAS) a nonverbal scale allowing for the recording of lameness in a continuous way. This web survey is part of the work aiming at developing of a new reliable scale for goats that can be used by researchers, veterinarians and farmers. A web-survey was developed in which we asked respondents to score, in terms of presence and severity of occurrence, three lameness descriptors (gait, nodding and spine curvature), in nine videos randomly selected from a pool of 82. Lameness cases were previously scored by experts using a 4-point ordinal scale and the descriptors assessment was done by the respondents in an individual VAS. Between May and October 2013 we collected a total of 600 responses from participants with different occupations related with animal production and health and welfare assessment, and with different levels of experience. All participations were collected and stored online. Based upon literature and on results suggesting differences in the observers ability to recognize lameness categories, we applied different cardinal consistency criteria. Our results suggest that only a small proportion of participants (around 10%) were able to correctly recognize the sequence in NRS lameness categories, being thus fully consistent. This re-enforces the need for a clearer description of the different lameness categories and is a drawback in the use of this type of scoring. The majority of the observers (around 85%) were only effective in distinguishing the severely lame goats from the true non-lame goats, with the majority of difficulties being in the distinction between the true non-lame and the slightly lame goats. Experience of the observers was very important for differentiating the different lameness categories, There seems to be space for developing, validating and using alternative lameness scoring methods. 19

22 Session: Welfare Assessment Protocols i-watchturkey: A smartphone application for on-farm turkeys health and welfare assessment Inma Estevez 1, 2, Joanna Marchewka 1, Tatiane T. Negrão Watanabe 3, Roberto Ruiz 1, Alberto Carrascal 4, Valentina Ferrante 3 1 Neiker-Tecnalia, Akaute Agrifood Campus, Animal Production, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. 2 IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain. 3 Università degli Studi di Milano, Dept. of Veterinary Science and Public Health Via G. Celoria 10, Milan, Italy 4 Daia, Intelligent Solutions S.L., GOIEKI, Goierri Agency for Development, Ordizia, Spain. iestevez@neiker.net Current advances in mobile technologies open new possibilities for a more precise management of animals in commercial systems. Due to the large number of birds, and the fast turnover of the production cycles in meat poultry, flock health and welfare assessment is particularly difficult. Animal caretakers and company veterinarians conduct daily checks to determine flock health status. However, outcomes of the assessment are generally non-quantitative and are based on broad perceptions. Within the AWIN FP7 EU project, we have developed a free smartphone app for turkey health and welfare assessment (I-watchturkey) that in simple steps allows a standardized data collection of critical health and welfare indicators, based on the transect methodology (Marchewcka et al., 2013). This app includes the possibility of recording the frequency of birds (per transect) with relevant welfare and health deficiencies, such as severe lameness, wounds, unwanted behaviors or serious health issues in the flocks, without catching or disturbing the birds. Incidence of the health and welfare issues detected are automatically standardized (to percentages) by the number of birds in the flock at the time of assessment and the number of transects conducted. Data collection for assessment can be conducted at the time of a regular health inspection. In addition, the system records automatically the farm geographical location, climatic condition at the time of inspection, and allows enter relevant information, such as birds strain, birds age, housing and management conditions, expanding significantly the applications of the app and data analysis. The app will generate a report immediately after finishing data collection. Continuous, easy access to reliable, historical and current information on the health and welfare status of birds in relation to management and environmental factors, collected in a simple manner, would be an important asset for decision-making process of the companies, helping improving birds health and welfare and can be a useful tool for external welfare assessors. This tool will allow farmers and veterinarians to screen the performance of their flocks over time, motivating them for self-evaluation and providing better welfare to their animals. The main asset of this innovative solution is its simplicity of data entry, the option to get the report immediately after assessment and it is free of charge. Key words: turkeys, welfare assessment, smart phone, app, mobile application, animal-based indicators, transect walks 20

23 Session: Welfare Assessment Protocols Interactions with equine stakeholders, feasibility constraints to the application of the prototype protocol and possible solutions. Michela Minero Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Milan, Italy Michela.minero@unimi.it Awin researchers had several interactions with equine stakeholders which allowed to identify shared strategies and to achieve practical solutions for the improvement of horse and donkey welfare. Besides consultations organised during the AWIN annual meetings, stakeholders actively collaborated to the definition of qualitative terms for the description of positive emotional states, the Italian equestrian federation (FISE) organised a national training event for riders, coaches and trainers about the future of equitation science and the evaluation of welfare using indicators developed in AWIN. Agreements were signed with official veterinary services in Northern Italy to assess welfare in horse and donkey facilities using animal based indicators. In order to refine donkey welfare indicators, scientific and practical collaboration was offered by The Donkey Sanctuary and researchers based at the Michigan State University, the University of North Carolina and the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine. AWIN researchers also organised a workshop for children of the primary school during the researchers night, a mega event taking place every year on a single night in about 300 cities all over Europe: the workshop showed what AWIN researchers on equines do and why it matters for daily life. Two major collaboration projects regard the definition of the Practical Guidelines to Assess Fitness for Transport of Equidae prepared by major equine and transport organizations throughout Europe and the participation to an equine experts meeting held in Brussels as part of the preparatory work for a possible animal welfare framework law. Eighteen members of the Equine Network of Stakeholders participated in a workshop aimed to maintain a multidisciplinary dialogue, define potential barriers to the application of the prototypes in practice and identify possible solutions. Stakeholders were invited to express their opinion on welfare indicators and needs of horses and donkeys. The participants showed good overall agreement about indicators. According to their opinion, all welfare principles deserve expert attention, with absence of prolonged thirst and hunger considered as the most important criteria. Unintended outcomes of welfare assessment varied much more and were representative of the interests of the different participants. Maximum time for assessing an animal varies from 5min to 30min. Participants interacted in the Forum, discussing the results of the meeting. 21

24 Developing digital learning materials from animal welfare science: learning objects Andreia De Paula Vieira 1, Adroaldo J Zanella 2, Pericles Varella Gomes 1, Donald M Broom 3,4, Bjarne O Braastad 3, Judit Vas 3, Jill MacKay 5, Fritha M Langford 5 1 Universidade de Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 2 Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 3 Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås, Norway 4 University of Cambridge, U.K. 5 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK Digital access to learning is becoming an area of increasing importance as education moves away from standard didactic models of teaching into interactive spaces. Digital learning can include degree programmes available online to massive open courses. However, both of these models are still providing teaching to students rather than helping teachers and lecturers build their own teaching. In the AWIN project, one of our aims is to produce a variety of high quality learning materials that can be used by students online, but also can be downloaded by teachers and lecturers to be used offline in their courses wherever they are in the world. To do this we are producing Learning Objects (L.O.) which are simple digital units of content, in any area of content. A good definition of an L.O. is... a particular type of online electronic learning material that is generally defined as a small, digital and self-contained unit of learning that can be broadly (but not exclusively) described as context independent, reusable and adaptable. [1] This definition gives us a simple and broad understanding of an L.O., highlighting in particular the three main dimensions required for a successful learning outcome, namely: the Content dimension, the Technological dimension and the Pedagogical dimension. All three of these dimensions are essential to address thoroughly before developing L.O.s and in this presentation, we shall address each in turn using examples from our AWIN L.O.s. Content: The internet is a vast repository of information, some of it authoritative, some of it less so. In the subject of animal welfare, there are many good educational materials available, mostly produced by animal welfare societies or other NGOs. The problems associated with these materials are that they sometimes are not up to date with the science in animal welfare and that they have a bias (actual or perceived) in their information. Being able to provide L.O.s designed around the most up to date animal welfare science, that are useful to a variety of audiences and come from an academic background, reduces these problems as it allows learners to know they have the most recent evidence and no bias towards animal protectionism or animal rights. Each of the L.O.s you will see presented has been made with animal welfare scientists associated with the AWIN project, and much of the learning is based on the new research and evidence investigated by AWIN. The process of building the L.O.s with scientists is a conversational one, where the research team and the WP4 team meet online and go back and forth with ideas. This can be quite a different process from those most often carried out by scientists, and many of our researchers have expressed pleasure in being able to use their creative abilities. The researchers provide us with the topic, the main intended audience and the basic story of what they want to get across. Then, over a series of meetings we produce drafts, allowing for creative and scientific input from both sides. The content has to be scientifically valid and also interactive, which can include graphs, charts and text, and also photographs, animations and video clips. This takes us onto the next stage using appropriate technology to build the L.O. Technology: The technology used to build the L.O. will depend on both the intended audience and the intended use of the L.O. The wide definition of an L.O. can mean an almost limitless array of possibilities when it comes to building something useful for the end user. However, we have settled on two main ways of building L.O.s: 1) using an e-learning software such as Articulate Storyline or Adobe Presenter; or 2) using smartphone application technology. 22

25 The advantages of using e-learning software is that we can take an interface that scientists are very used to using e.g. PowerPoint and create a non-linear and wholly user-driven experience. We ask the scientists to provide slides and then build on them adding activities and interactive layers to engage learners. These can be used online or be downloaded and used in other contexts. Smartphone apps allow us to provide learning and mobile useable tools to people when they are in a practical situation, adding in a layer of applied science to the scenario. So, the example of our Horse Grimace Scale App, will allow horse owners to score their own horses live. All of our L.O.s go through an extensive usability testing period to ensure that there are no glitches and that users find them user-friendly. Pedagogy: The final, and in many ways, the most important consideration is that of pedagogy. We need to ensure educational effectiveness of our L.O.s, something that is often lacking in other educational materials available online. Our L.O.s can only be useful in improving animal welfare if users do learn from them and moreover, learn what we want them to learn. The professional scientists from academic environments in AWIN, all have experience of teaching university students. However, many do not have experience of teaching/training other audience types, such as farmers or children. The testing period of our L.O.s includes as much as possible an educational testing period with the intended audience. Our experience so far shows effective learning from our interactive packages with veterinary students of different stages of education. We are now rolling out trials with farmers and animal owners to test our newest L.O.s. Conclusions: AWIN L.O.s are built to be scientifically valid, user-friendly and educationally effective to ensure the widest take-up in the intended audiences. Stakeholder interest has been high, particularly for the L.O.s that educate veterinary students on pain and disease. Given the recent global attention given to veterinary education, with international organisations such as the OIE and the World Veterinary Association producing guidelines for day-one competences in animal welfare to include the recognition and assessment of pain, AWIN L.O.s should be well placed to provide the complementary student-led learning materials. Recognition of the power of web-based learning continues to grow and AWIN is taking the next step on innovating in educational tools that cover many gaps in traditional education. All of our L.O.s are available online, free of cost in the Animal Welfare Science Hub ( and can be promptly downloaded by instructors to be used in their educational setting or by students and professionals for self-learning. [1] The Higher Education Academy, UK: 23

26 Session: Pain, Disease and Animal Welfare Pain, Disease and Animal Welfare WP2 Highlights & Talks Dirk Lebelt Havelland Equine Hospital, Beetzsee, Germany AWIN Work Package 2 uses a combination of surveys and experimental data collection to assess relationships between animal welfare and commonly occurring painful conditions with a special focus on behavioural and physiological indicators of pain. In addition to the welfare measures developed by WP1 for routine on-farm use, WP2 mainly uses an experimental approach also investigating more indepth biomarkers of pain. The species included in the experimental studies of this WP are goats, sheep and horses. Different research teams from Portugal, UK and Germany cover the following aspects: - Questionnaire based studies assessing attitudes towards pain and disease in farm animals to understand producers and veterinarian s perceptions of pain in livestock - Welfare consequences of painful diseases in sheep, goats and horses - Evaluation and alleviation of pain after on farm management procedures in goats and horses In all experimental studies, a multidisciplinary approach is used combining clinical assessment of disease, behaviour, and physiological responses to determine the most appropriate pain indicators for the range of conditions and situations studied. The following talks will highlight some of the WP2 research results and outcomes (see separate abstracts in the proceedings for more details): Facial expressions as pain indicator in sheep Using farm routine procedures to reduce pain in dairy goats Indicators of pain in sheep suffering from pregnancy toxaemia Post castration pain control in horses Outcomes of these studies did contribute to the development and refinement of welfare assessment protocols developed in WP1 and also produced ideas for learning objects realized by WP4. Further selected aspects of WP2 research are presented in the poster session: Farmers and veterinarians perceptions of lameness and pain in sheep Early signs of pregnancy toxaemia in goats 24

27 Session: Pain, Disease & Animal Welfare Facial expression as a pain indicator in sheep Krista M. McLennan, Carlos J. Rebelo, Murray J. Corke, Mark Holmes, and Fernando Constantino-Casas Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK kmm55@cam.ac.uk Identifying and managing pain in sheep can be difficult due to their stoical nature. This can result in poor welfare in any animal not correctly identified as experiencing pain. Footrot is a disease with substantial animal welfare and economic impacts on the sheep industry, and the lameness associated with footrot is a clear indicator of the pain in sheep. This makes it a good model to test a new technique in assessing pain; facial expression. The facial expressions of 58 adult sheep (mean = 1.4 yrs) categorised as either treatment only group (n=40) or matched pair non-diseased control group (n=18), were evaluated using a newly developed grimace score that assessed five areas of the face (orbital tightening, ear position, cheek bulge, lip and jaw profile and nostril/ philtrum position). The lameness score and total lesion score were assessed for each sheep on initial presentation (day 1) of the disease and ninety days after treatment (day 90) after the lesions had healed. The facial expression scale showed a good global accuracy of the pain assessment at 78% of sheep being correctly identified as either pain or no-pain, 15% of sheep were incorrectly identified as experiencing pain when they were either a control animal or were observed on day 90 and only 6% of animals with footrot were not identified as being in pain. The average facial score from all five areas reduced significantly (t = , df=56, p<0.001) from day 1 to day 90 suggesting a reduction in pain as animals healed. Total facial expression scores were correlated well with lesion scores (r s = 0.19, p=0.02), and lameness scores (r s = 0.22, p=0.003). The results presented suggest that the sheep grimace score may be a practical tool to assess pain in sheep. A learning object is currently being developed to train veterinary students in this technique. 25

28 Session: Pain, Disease & Animal Welfare Using farm routine procedures to reduce pain in dairy goats Inês Ajuda and George Stilwell Veterinary Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon, Portugal Assessment of pain in farm animals can sometimes be difficult and remains highly subjective. Some diseases will cause behavioural changes, but in chronic diseases these changes are generally less apparent. There is also the risk of stockpersons habituation and disregard for pain signs. Society, and consumers in particular, request active concern for pain management but several impediments are present for farm animal, namely costs, withdrawal periods and restricted use of some drugs in food producing animals. In contrast, certain routine farm procedures have proven to be inexpensive, easily applicable and very effective in reducing pain. One condition that causes acute and chronic pain in ruminants is claw disease/lesion. These lead to lameness that has been considered the most important welfare problem in dairy cows. The impact of claw condition on dairy goats welfare remains to be fully evaluated but we have shown that in intensive dairy goat farms claw overgrowth and deformation can affect over 70% of the animals and cause different degrees of lameness. Overgrowth results from deficient wearing out of the claws because animals are permanently stabled in pens with soft straw bedding. We performed two studies to assess the impact of trimming on lameness in goats with different levels of claw overgrowth and deformation. The results showed that trimming, even of deformed claws, reduces inflammation of deep tissues and lameness severity. We also showed that prolonged lack of trimming will lead to severe damage of the distal interphalangeal joint and probably to chronic pain. It was concluded that regular trimming of dairy goats claws is essential for the protection of their welfare, reducing the incidence of chronic painful conditions and improving performance. Presence of horns or trace of horns when goats are improperly disbudded are welfare issues because horned animals often adopt agonistics behaviour causing stress, lesions and pain to others and get caught in fences. Additionally, having horned animals may reduce space and time at feed. Dehorning adult goats should be avoided because it is very painful and has dangerous consequences. So at the moment disbudding is a needed routine procedure that results in better overall welfare in intensive dairy farms. However WP1 studies have shown that pain management is never performed and that a high prevalence of deficient disbudding is present in goat farms. Kid disbudding is usually done with a hot iron. We studied several protocols with local anaesthesia and anti-inflammatory drugs but all revealed to be laborious, inefficient or unpractical. We have been looking at differences in pain signs and efficacy of disbudding accordingly to kids age (7 days, 15 days, 20 days and 30 days). The first results show that disbudding at earlier ages with lead to better outcomes with less time of hot-iron contact. The use of these and other routine procedures is an inexpensive way of improving animal welfare also increasing performance and guaranteeing food safety. Farmers should be trained to performed regular trimming and adequate disbudding so as to guarantee animal welfare. 26

29 Session: Pain, Disease and Animal Welfare Indicators of pain in sheep suffering from pregnancy toxaemia Carlos Rebelo, Krista McLennan, Mark Holmes, Murray Corke, and Fernando Constantino- Casas Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK During production, sheep may be exposed to diseases and other noxious events that will have negative consequences for the animal and on production. Quantification of animal pain is not only important for improving animal welfare, but also for economic reasons. The measurement of pain in farm animals, and sheep in particular, is a challenging task, as they may avoid showing obvious signs of pain since masking these has been of evolutionary benefit to this species behaviour to prevent predator attacks. Foot-rot and mastitis are two diseases known to be associated with pain in sheep, and these diseases may help identify behavioural and physiological biomarkers of pain in other diseases where pain may be a component, such as pregnancy toxaemia (PT). Behavioural and physiological criteria were measured in fourteen polytocous ewes (10 diagnosed with pregnancy toxaemia and 4 controls), either treated with or without NSAIDs, during the last third of gestation. A physical examination was performed in all cases, including heart and respiratory rates, rectal temperature, body condition scoring and presence of ruminal movements. Faeces were collected for cortisol analysis, and serum was used for the quantitative determination of Substance P (SP). Blood was collected to determine BHBA levels, and also for quantification of biochemical parameters. Facial expressions of pain in sheep were evaluated using a scoring system that assessed five areas of the face (orbital area, cheek region, ears, lip and jaw profile, nostrils and philtrum), and for each of these areas there are three levels of expression (0= not present, 1= partially present, 2= present). These sheep were reassessed clinically, behaviourally and blood sampled again at 7 days and at 42 days following the initial observations and treatment. Heart and respiratory rates were above the normal range for all affected and control sheep. The facial expression scale showed a global accuracy of the pain assessment at 73% of sheep being correctly identified as either pain (PT animals) or no-pain (controls), 12% of sheep were incorrectly identified as experiencing pain, and 15% of animals with PT were missed. There was no significant difference in cortisol metabolites (ng/g) between diseased animals and their matched controls on day 0 and on day 7. The mean concentrations (pg/ml) of SP were lower in control animals in comparison with affected animals, both on days 0 ( and , respectively) and 42 ( and , respectively). Facial expressions and SP may be significant indicators of pain in PT, when a larger sample is available. 27

30 Session: Pain, Disease & Animal Welfare Post castration pain control in horses Diana Stucke 1, Sarah Hall 2, Mareile Große Ruse 3, and Dirk Lebelt 1 1 Havelland Equine Hospital, Beetzsee, Germany 2 AWIN Biomarkers Lab, Scotland s Rural College, Edinburgh, UK 3 Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Mathematical Statistics, Lund University, Sweden diana.stucke@pferdeklinik-havelland.de Although castration is the most conducted management surgery in horses and is demonstrably known to cause post-surgical pain there is a lack of science based recommendations for effective pain control after surgical castration. Therefore, one aim of this study was to define in which time period after castration pain reactions can be expected and how effective different analgesic protocols can alleviate this pain situation. Methods: 51 equine stallions undergoing surgical castration with closed technique through a scrotal approach under general anaesthesia were divided in 3 pain-relieving treatment groups: A) single perioperative administration of flunixin (n=19), B) additional subsequent flunixin administrations (n=21), D) like A, but with additional intra-operative, local anaesthesia of the spermatic cords (n=11). All horses were assessed before and five times after surgery (up to 44hrs) by means of different behavioural and physiological pain indicators such as a modified Composite Pain Scale (CPS), a newly developed Facial Expression Pain Scale (FEPS), faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (GCMs) and plasma cytokine profiles. The same parameters were also measured in a control group C, undergoing only general anaesthesia without any painful intervention (n=6). Data was analysed using linear models followed by post hoc tests with alpha adjustment. Results: Measurement time point and treatment group, both had a significant impact on HRV measures, CPS and FEPS scores (p<0.001) but not on faecal glucocorticoids and plasma cytokines. Even with the widely used single peri-operative administration of the pain relieving drug flunixin significant pain reactions could be found up to 8 hours after castration: CPS and FEPS scores, as well as high frequency power of HRV increased significantly in groups A and B (P 0,0016) but not in groups D and C. Subsequent administrations of flunixin had no beneficial effect (no significant differences between groups A and B), whereas additional local anaesthesia of the spermatic cords proved to be able to reduce post castration pain effectively (group D differs significantly from groups A and B but not from C). Conclusions: Data obtained during this study clearly indicates that additional anaesthesia of the spermatic cords can be recommended in order to alleviate pain associated with castration and therefore improve welfare of castrated equine stallions. 28

31 Prenatal and early postnatal effects on offspring development Inger Lise Andersen Prenatal stressors related to farming conditions range from human handling, isolation and transport stress to social stress. Over the last 15 years, increasing studies have investigated effects of prenatal stress in farm animals, covering a wide range of species including foxes, poultry, farmed fish, small ruminants and pigs. While previously, scientists mainly focused on negative effects of prenatal stress, there are now quite a few examples indicating that mothers subjected to moderate levels of stress produce offspring well adapted to the present production environment. The effects of prenatal stress depend not only on the type of stressors but also on the magnitude of the stress and its timing and duration during pregnancy. Few farm animal studies have reported effects on production parameters, either because farm animals are generally robust or rarely abort once the foetus is implanted, or because most studies have not focused on the first days of pregnancy when abortion is more likely to occur. The most common experimental tests used to study behavioural development in the offspring The majority of research demonstrates that subjecting the mother to prenatal stress during the third trimester of pregnancy, results in offspring showing a more proactive behavioural style. Results on learning abilities and problem solving strategies suggest that, even if prenatal stress impairs learning ability when the magnitude of the stress is high, learning in fear situations may actually also be facilitated by the stress. Social strategies and flexibility in social situations as well as in problem solving have not been much in focus in farm animals. If offspring become more proactive, competitive and/or learning abilities are impaired, this could have consequences for breeding animals in more than one generation, and especially in a loose-housing environment where animals are faced with more challenges in problem solving and competition for attractive resources. Early postnatal experience has strong effects on offspring development and is sometimes more important than the prenatal conditions. The mother may buffer negative effects of the prenatal environment in the early postnatal period, reducing or even reversing some predicted negative effects of prenatal stress. The interaction between effects of the prenatal vs. early postnatal environment should thus be a focus of future farm animal studies. Research to date underlines the importance of understanding how the mother is coping with her environment and shaping offspring behaviour. 29

32 Space allowance in gestating ewes and early postnatal separation: Impact on the coping abilities of newborn lambs Xavier Averós a, Joanna Marchewka a, Ignacia Beltrán de Heredia a, Roberto Ruiz a, Inma Estévez a,b a Neiker-Tecnalia, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; b IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain. A common prenatal stressor in lambs may relate to the more or less severe confinement conditions of ewes during pregnancy, possibly followed by early maternal separation. These may be important stress sources affecting to the lamb development and future coping abilities. This study determined the impact of reduced space allowance during pregnancy and early maternal separation in lambs coping abilities. For the study, 54 ewes were housed at 1, 2, or 3 m 2 /ewe during the last 11 weeks of pregnancy (SA1, SA2 and SA3, respectively). After birth, lambs either remained with their mothers (MRL) or were artificially reared (ARL). At about 3 days of age, 42 lambs were divided into groups of 3, and each lamb subjected to a novel arena (2.5 min) and a novel object (2.5 min) tests. Data on behaviour, use of space, and vocalizations were collected. After this, lambs were exposed to a social motivation test (5 min). For this test the arena was divided into 3 regions according to the proximity to an adjacent pen where the other 2 lambs were housed. The number of visits, time spent in each region, and number of vocalizations were collected. Generalized mixed model ANOVAs were used to determine the effects of pre, postnatal treatments, and gender on collected variables. An interaction between pre and postnatal treatment was observed, with SA1 ARL lambs expressing higher levels of immobility (P<0.05) during the novel arena test, a higher % of time close to other lambs (P<0.001) during the social motivation test, and more vocalizations in both tests (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). The latter also tended to occur during novel object tests (P<0.10). Differences were also observed across gender, with females vocalizing more during novel arena (P<0.05) and novel object tests (P<0.01), and interacting more often with the stimulus during novel object tests (P<0.05). Females also spent a higher % of time closer to other lambs (P<0.001), although they vocalized less than males (P<0.01) during social motivation tests. These results suggest either an exacerbation of the detrimental effects of early maternal separation on the coping abilities of lambs originated from ewes housed at reduced space allowance during pregnancy; or alternatively, that remaining with the mother buffered the detrimental effects of prenatal stress. Despite their higher curiosity towards novel object, females appeared to be less bold than males regarding their coping abilities as they acted more fearful and searched social contact. Keywords: artificial rearing; fearfulness; lamb; social motivation; space allowance during pregnancy. 30

33 Prenatal social environment and the effects on the behavioral development and cognition of goat kids: a thesis overview Rachel Chojnacki 1 *, Judit Vas 1, and Inger Lise Andersen 1 1 Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences P.O. Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway * Rachel.Chojnacki@nmbu.no Prenatal stress (stress experienced by a pregnant mother) and its effects on offspring have been comprehensively studied but relatively little research has been done on how prenatal social stress affects farm animals such as goats. Pregnant Norwegian dairy goats were exposed to two treatments throughout gestation over two consecutive years: an animal density treatment (1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 m 2 per animal; group size held constant at 6 animals per group) and animal group size treatment (6 or 18 animals per group; density held constant at 1.5 m 2 per animal). Each year, one kid per litter was subjected to two behavioral tests at 5 weeks of age (a social and a separation test) and a series of cognitive tests at 6 weeks of age (Piagetian object permanence test). The social test was applied to assess the fear responses, sociality and social recognition skills when presented with a familiar and unfamiliar kid and the separation test assessed the behavioral coping skills when isolated. The results from the first year s study indicate goat kids from the highest prenatal density of 1.0 m 2 were more fearful than the kids from the lower prenatal densities (i.e. made more escape attempts (separation test: P < 0.001) and vocalizations (social test: P < 0.001; separation test: P < 0.001). This effect was more pronounced in females than males in the high density (vocalizations; social test: P < 0.001; separation test: P = 0.001) and females were generally more social than males. However, goat kids did not differentiate between a familiar and an unfamiliar kid at 5 weeks of age and sociality was not affected by the prenatal density treatment. There were no treatment or sex differences in the kids abilities to perform the Piagetian object permanence tasks; however, as a group, the results indicate goats are capable of understanding some limited aspects of invisible displacement similar to the majority of species tested. We conclude that high animal densities during pregnancy in goats produce offspring that have a higher level of fear, particularly in females. Behavioral changes in offspring that occur as an effect of prenatal stress are of high importance as many of the females are recruited to the breeding stock of dairy goats. Data for the second year s group size treatment are under analyses. Preliminary results indicate kids from the second year were less capable of perform object permanence tasks. During the second year, kids were artificially reared from the milk buckets which were used in the object permanence tasks. This was done as it was thought it would increase the kids motivation to perform during testing. However, these results indicate there may have been negative effects of the artificial rearing conditions. 31

34 Assessment of the impact of variation in prenatal handling on maternal provisioning in dairy goats Emma M Baxter, Sarah A Hall, Jo E Donbavand, Adroaldo J Zanella & Cathy M Dwyer Goats have generally been over-looked in the field of prenatal stress research, however dairy goats are subjected to a number of potential stressors throughout their lives, including daily interactions with humans. The quality of these interactions may have direct consequences for the animal undergoing the experience, but if such events occur during gestation it can adversely affect the developing fetus. This study examined the effects of differential handling during mid-gestation in 40 twin-bearing Saanen x Toggenburg primiparous goats. Between days of pregnancy goats were subjected to a negative (N, n=13), positive (P, n=13) or minimal (M, n=14) handling protocol for 10 minutes twice a day. Positive handling involved goats receiving a small food reward and they could choose whether to interact with the human. Protocols were always performed at a predictable time. Negative handling involved unpredictable times, no food reward, forced animal movements (non-contact), occasional presence of a dog. The control (M) group did not receive handling treatments and all goats were subjected to normal husbandry procedures only outside treatment periods. Behavioural and physiological data were collected from both the mothers and their kids, including detailed measurements of mother-offspring interactions for the first 2hrs post-partum. Following delivery placentae were dissected and morphology analysed. A colostrum sample was collected 2hrs after birth of the second kid to determine the levels of IgG. The groups were unbalanced so Linear Mixed Models (REML) were used to determine the statistical differences between the treatment groups. Data were adjusted for litter size and sex ratio where necessary. Negatively handled goats lost 4 fetuses before birth compared to no fetal loss in other groups (Fishers exact P=0.051). Treatment also influenced placental morphology with significantly fewer medium raised cotyledons evident in the negative treatment (N = 53.3 (sem±8.5) vs. P = 72.1 (sem±6.4) or M = 78.1 (sem±9.9); F 2,32 =3.36, P=0.047). Positively-handled goats emitted significantly more low-pitched vocalisations towards their young during the two hour observation period post-partum (P = (sem±70.8) vs. N = (sem±25.4) vs. M = (sem±26.9); F 2,32 =3.83, P=0.022). Preliminary analysis of kid behaviour suggests no treatment effects on neonatal behaviours and vocalisations. There were no significant treatment effects on the quantity of IgG present in the colostrum (N = mg/ml (sem±25.8) vs. P = (sem±27.6) vs. M = (sem±14.9) F 2,33 p=0.763). The results show that handling during pregnancy affects maternal provisioning in the form of placental quality and post-partum maternal behaviours. These results have important animal welfare implications, demonstrating that negative handling of pregnant females results in poorer placental quality with potential for fetal loss. It also demonstrates the beneficial effects of positive handling on important maternal behaviours that have been shown in other ruminants to influence offspring survival and development. Keywords: goat, handling, prenatal stress, placenta, behaviour 32

35 Poster Abstracts 33

36 Strategies for optimizing animal welfare assessment including pain PhD thesis outline Joanna Marchewka Work described in the doctoral thesis entitled Strategies for optimizing animal welfare assessment including pain was conducted within the frame of Work Package 1 of the AWIN project by Joanna Marchewka. The research project aimed to optimize strategies for welfare assessment including pain in turkeys and sheep. Due to scarce knowledge on turkeys welfare, the first part of work concentrated on the development of a new practical and dynamic protocol for on-farm welfare assessment of turkeys, adjusted to the particularities of large groups in which they are housed. The novel protocol approach based on transect walks, that included the evaluation of the main welfare issues commonly observed in meat poultry, was primarily validated on broilers as a model species. This first approach was used due to the possibility of comparing obtained by transect walks outcomes with results from referenced method based on individual sampling. In order to include most relevant behavioral indicators into consequent, complex, turkey specific protocol, literature review on this issue was accomplished. The transect-based protocol including welfare and selected behavioral indicators for turkey on-farm welfare assessment was designed and is currently being validated for its sensitivity as well as inter observer reliability, providing novel tool for efficient and practical on-farm meat poultry assessment. Second part of the thesis aimed at developing pain indicators for sheep at the animal level. Sheep, as other prey species has developed throughout the evolution process effective mechanisms to avoid showing evident signs of pain. Results of the conducted experiment found that tail docking-related pain is a factor intensifying reactions of lambs to isolation, which should be considered as a proof of negative effects on the welfare caused by the common husbandry procedures, as tail docking especially performed without pain relief measures. The potential of acoustic indicators for pain will also be explored. 34

37 Poster Does handling experience alter the response of sheep to the presence of an unfamiliar human? Richmond, Susan, Georges, Charlotte, Baxter, Emma M, Wemelsfelder, Francoise and Dwyer, Cathy M. SRUC, King's Building, West Mains Rd, Edinburgh EH9 3JG. Measurement of human-animal relationships is an important component of on-farm welfare assessment. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of different handling treatments on the reaction of pregnant ewes to an unfamiliar human during a voluntary human approach (VHA) test. Fifty twin bearing mule ewes experienced one of three handling styles: Positive (predictable, gentle voluntary human-animal interactions, small food rewards, n=20), negative (unpredictable, non-contact forced animal movements, occasional presence of a dog, n=20) or minimal handling (husbandry only, n=10). The treatments were applied for 10 minutes twice daily for five days per week for five weeks during mid-pregnancy. In the VHA test an unfamiliar human entered the ewes home pens for five minutes twice weekly throughout the course of five weeks. Chi 2 tests were used to analyse quantitative data on the ewes location and behaviour during the VHA tests. At the end of the handling treatment (week5) significantly fewer positively handled ewes were observed in the back of the pen in comparison to week1 (proportion of ewes in back: week1=80%, week5=40% (χ² =8.640, d.f.=1, p=0.003). However there were no significant differences in other handling groups between week1 (proportion of ewes in back: 53%) and week5 (proportion of ewes in back 60% (χ2=0.075, d.f.=1, p=0.784). During the first 20seconds of the VHA test on week5 there were significantly fewer individuals involved in aggressive interactions from the positively handled treatment group (5%) compared to those receiving negative or minimal handling (36% χ² = 6.597, d.f.=1, p=0.01). The data suggest positive handling of sheep reduces avoidance of unfamiliar humans and agitated behaviour in their presence. The similarity between the negatively and minimally handled ewes may prove problematic for on-farm welfare assessments, especially if animals are handled infrequently. 35

38 Poster Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of intensive and extensive goat farms Lilia Grosso 1, Monica Battini 1, Françoise Wemelsfelder 2, Sara Barbieri 1, Michela Minero 1, Emanuela Dalla Costa 1, Silvana Mattiello 1 1 Università degli Studi di Milano, DIVET, Via Celoria 10, Milano, Italy 2 SRUC, Roslin Institute Building, Easter Bush, UK Lilia.grosso@unimi.it Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is a whole-animal approach, integrating perceived details of animals expressive demeanour, using terms such as tense, anxious, or relaxed. To evaluate the validity and repeatability of QBA for dairy goats, two observers assessed 16 goat farms at the same time, using a list of 16 QBA terms based on literature study and discussion with an experienced focus group. There were 8 housed (H) farms, where animals were observed in free stall pens with permanent straw litter, and 8 pasture (P) farms, where animals were observed in open pasture ranges. One H farm was removed from analysis due to procedural error. QBA scores generated by observers for the 15 farms were analysed together using Principal Component Analysis (correlation matrix, no rotation). Observer agreement for farm scores on PCA Components (PCs) and on separate QBA terms was investigated using Pearson and Spearman correlations respectively. The effects of housing system and observer on PC scores were analysed using analysis of variance (treatments=observer, housing system and their interaction; block=farm). PCA distinguished three meaningful dimensions of goat expression: PC1 (29%) content/calmfrustrated/aggressive ; PC2 (20%) curious/attentive-calm/bored; PC3 (12%) sociable/playfulalert/agitated. Farm scores generated by the two observers on the three PCs were significantly correlated (PC1: r=0.75, p<0.001; PC2: r=0.67, p=0.006; PC3: r=0.69, p=0.004). Observers farm scores on separate QBA terms were significantly correlated for 7 out of 16 terms (p<0.05), and approached significant correlation for an additional 2 terms (p<0.1), indicating an integrated PCA approach to QBA to be more robust. There were significant effects of housing system on PC1 (p=0.05) and PC2 (p=0.02), indicating goats on P farms to be more content/calm, and more curious/attentive, than goats on H farms. There was a significant observer effect on PC2 (p=0.04), and a significant observer by housing interaction on PC3 (p=0.009). These results show good inter-observer reliability across three dimensions of goat demeanour. However observers differed in their quantification of several QBA terms, indicating the need for further training and refinement of the descriptor list. QBA found the goats demeanour on H and P farms to differ along two dimensions, suggesting that access to pasture may have a positive effect on goats emotional state. In sum, these results suggest that, given further refinement, QBA could make a valuable contribution to goat welfare assessment protocols. The authors thank the EU VII Framework program (FP7-KBBE ) for financing the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project. 36

39 Poster Indicators of thermal comfort for on-farm welfare assessment in dairy goats Monica Battini, Luna Fioni, Sara Barbieri, Silvana Mattiello Università degli Studi di Milano, DIVET, Via Celoria 10, Milano, Italy Up to date, scarce information is available on valid and feasible indicators of thermal comfort in goats. Aim of this investigation was to test the validity and feasibility of indicators for on-farm assessment of cold and heat stress in dairy goats. The study was performed in three pens (n. of animals/pen: 233, 97, 71) of intensively farmed dairy goats in Italy. For each pen, data were collected in the morning (8:00), afternoon (12:30) and evening (17:00) in January, April-May and July 2013, for a total of 9 observation sessions/pen (3 time bands per 3 days). During each session, temperature ( C), relative humidity (%) and wind speed (km/h) were recorded and Thermal Heat Index (THI) was calculated. The sessions were allocated to three climatic seasons, depending on THI ranges (min-max): Cold (32-45), Neutral (54-64) and Hot (66-83). Both cold and heat stress were scored by visual assessment from outside the pen. For cold stress, we used a 3-point scale scoring system (shivering score): no sign of stress (score 0), moderate stress with bristled hair on the back (score 1), high stress with shiver (score 2). For heat stress, we used a 3-point scale scoring system (panting score): normal respiration (score 0), elevated respiration with closed mouth (score 1), panting with open mouth (score 2). Shivering score 2 was recorded only in one goat in Cold season and panting score 2 only in two goats in Hot season, therefore scores 1 and 2 were aggregated for statistical analysis. The frequencies of goats suffering from either cold or heat stress were compared between seasons using a Chi-Squared or Fisher s Exact Test, where appropriate. The percentage of goats showing signs of cold stress was significantly higher in Cold season than in Neutral (P<0.01) and Hot (P<0.001) season (1.79%, 0.38% and 0.00%, respectively). In Neutral season, cold stress was observed only during a morning session with low temperature (12 C) and high humidity (93%), whereas in Cold season it was equally distributed during the three time bands. Signs of heat stress were recorded only in Hot season in 10.50% of goats (P<0.001 compared to both Neutral and Cold season). Our results show that the shivering and the panting scores used in this study are valid indicators to detect thermal stress in goats. The visual assessment from outside the pen confirms the on-farm feasibility of both indicators. A further refinement of the scoring systems may consider merging scores 1 and 2, thus obtaining a 2-point scale scoring system, useful also for farmers to gather early information about thermal comfort of goats. The authors thank the EU VII Framework program (FP7-KBBE ) for financing the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project. 37

40 Poster Preliminary results on the on-farm use of the AWIN prototype welfare assessment protocol for donkeys Emanuela Dalla Costa 1, Leigh Margaret Anne Murray 1, Francesca Dai 1, Elisabetta Canali 1, Michela Minero 1 1 Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Milan, Italy Emanuela.dallacosta@unimi.it Keywords: welfare assessment, donkey, prototype protocol A welfare assessment was conducted using the AWIN prototype welfare assessment protocol for donkeys on 11 donkey facilities located in Northern Italy. Farms were representative of the most common type of donkey facilities in Western Europe: four dairy donkey farms, three farms where donkeys were used for Animal Assisted Activities, one sanctuary and three farms where donkeys were kept as companion animals. The average number of animals was 20 (min. 10 max 150). On each farm, all adult donkeys were assessed individually, including assessment of the body condition, dental examination, ocular/nasal discharge, joint swellings, hoof conditions, behavioural reaction to handling performed by the owner, avoidance distance to an unknown person approaching, reaction to an unknown person walking down the side of the animal, ease of limb lift, reaction to ear touch, Qualitative Behaviour Assessment. Specific data regarding the farm (i.e. type of farm), feeding (i.e. roughage, straw, hay, supplements, drinkers), and management (i.e. frequency of work, frequency of health and hoof checks, frequency of grooming), were gathered from an interview with the stockperson and/or by observation and assessment by the assessors. Welfare measures were reported in a merged data set and analysed using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA, correlation matrix, no rotation). Our results revealed that the prototype was feasible under field conditions in donkey facilities. No safety issues were encountered and no tests had to be interrupted because of dangerous reactions of donkeys; all the owners showed good acceptability of the procedure adopted to test the animals. Time required performing the assessment varied from one to three min per donkey. Results revealed substantial farm variability. Donkeys described as agitated, fearful, aggressive, showed higher avoidance distance to an unknown person approaching and a tail tuck reaction when the observer walked down their side. On the contrary, donkeys habitually groomed and who easily followed their owner were described more frequently as friendly. It is worth to notice that QBA was performed as the first evaluation on farm, on undisturbed animals, before taking any other welfare measure. This means, for instance, that the donkeys were described as fearful or friendly before seeing their reaction to humans. 38

41 Poster Transect walks: method sensitivity for on-farm welfare evaluation in turkeys Tatiane Terumi Negrão Watanabe 1, Valentina Ferrante 1*, Carlo Tremolada 1, Lorenzo Ferrari 1, Susanna Lolli 1, Rita Rizzi 1, Inma Estevez 2,3 1 Università degli Studi di Milano, Department of Veterinary Science and Public Health- Via G. Celoria 10, Milan, Italy 2 Neiker-Tecnalia, Arkaute Agrifood Campus, Animal Production, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. 3 IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain. *valentina.ferrante@unimi.it There is increasing consumer demands for livestock and poultry products that meet minimum animal welfare standards during their production cycle. Additionally, a growing number of farmers are aware about full compliance with the animal welfare standards that could play an important economic role in commercial intensive productions. Indeed, animal welfare assessment protocols have meaningful effects to promote and guarantee the on-farm safeguard animal standards. Transect walks method appeared to provide a practical approach to welfare assessment in broilers farms. Because of the similarities of meat poultry production, this method could be considered a reasonable approach for turkey welfare evaluation in terms of time demands, within costs and feasibility. The aim of this study was to determine the sensitivity of this method at 3 commercial turkey farms with similar facilities (Animal Welfare Indicators project, FP7-KBBE ). In this study, 10 commercial female-turkey flocks (6 houses with identical management), ranging from 3,212 to 6,000 birds and belonging to the same company were evaluated one week before slaughter. On turkey farms, walking through the house is a routine daily procedure to check the health status of the birds. Two previously trained assessors in performing the transect methodology and properly assessing the selected indicators, evaluated each paired house sequentially and independently within the same day by walking through predefined transect bands (1 to 4) in random order. The animal-based indicators considered were: immobility, lameness, wounds and featherless. The statistical model used was GLM in the GENMOD procedure (SAS V9). The results showed that this welfare assessment method highlights even small variation among houses for the considered variables. In fact, there were significant difference across houses (P=0.0021, P=0.0006, P= and P=0.0003) for all the evaluated indicators respectively. Differences across observers were detected for wounds and featherless (P<0.0001). These results may be due to the difficulties in assessing equally these parameters while walking. On the contrary, lameness, probably the most important welfare problem in meat poultry, showed a good concordance between observers (P= 0.361). These preliminary findings suggest that this new approach has potential as a tool for on-farm welfare evaluation, which may be worthwhile to be further developed. 39

42 Poster Validation of a fear test in sport horses using infrared thermography Francesca Dai 1, Nathalie Hélène Cogi 1, Eugenio Ugo Luigi Heinzl 1, Emanuela Dalla Costa 1, Elisabetta Canali 1, Michela Minero 1 1 Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Milan, Italy Francesca.dai@unimi.it Keywords: fear test, horse, infrared thermography, validity, welfare The aim of our research was to assess feasibility and validity of a fear test in adult sport horses and to investigate if the exposure to a fearful stimulus induces a change in eye temperature. Fifty horses aged 14±6 years of different breed and gender entered the study. A novel object fear test (NOT), modified from Górecka-Bruzda (Górecka-Bruzda et al. 2011, Appl Anim Behav Sci 133:207 15), has been selected to examine fearfulness. For each horse, a caretaker was asked to fill in a validated temperament questionnaire. In order to assess discriminant validity of the NOT three human-animal relationship tests were performed on the same horses. Temperature of the lacrimal caruncle was measured pre-test and post-test on 22 horses, representative of the whole sample. Data were analysed with descriptive, non-parametric and multivariate statistic methods. No significant differences were found between female and geldings for any of the measured variables. Horses that were described by caretakers as more prone to panic, vigilant, excitable, skittish and nervous (p < 0.001), needed significantly longer time to approach the novel object (p < 0.01). Eye temperature was significantly higher after the NOT compared to basal (p < 0.01), with subjects who did not reapproach the novel object tending to present larger increases (p < 0.1). Horses showing more fear related responses to the NOT did not show more negative reactions to humans during the human-animal tests. These results suggest that, to some extent, the NOT predicts horses behaviour in real on-farm situations. Our findings reject the hypothesis that reactivity to humans and general fearfulness belong to the same basic feature of temperament. Importantly, infrared thermography proved to be useful to assess physiological reactions of fear in horses. 40

43 Poster An innovative tool for on-farm data collection and information sharing Francesca Dai 1, Emanuela Dalla Costa 1, Monica Battini 1, Sara Barbieri 1, Michela Minero 1, Silvana Mattiello 1, Elisabetta Canali 1 1 Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Milan, Italy Francesca.dai@unimi.it Keywords: welfare assessment, on-farm data collection, computer tool The development of innovative tools based on existing knowledge is a major interest of the EU policies to facilitate research, to enhance registration, access and re-use of data. Aim of the project was to create a digitalized data collection system to improve the efficiency and reliability of data collection on-farm, low-time consuming, reducing mistakes during data transcription and enabling automatic upload of data to a common server. Open Data Kit (ODK) is a free and open-source set of tools, which manages mobile data collection solutions, developed by the University of Washington, Department of Computer Science and Engineering. The application is available for Android devices. ODK was selected for our purposes due to the easiness of building forms without specific knowledge in computer programming, the possibility to create a virtual server to collect and aggregate data, and therefore the possibility to access data from everywhere. On-farm welfare assessment prototype protocols for horses, donkeys and goats - developed in the framework of the AWIN project (FP7-KBBE ) - were organized in ODK forms to collect animal-based and management- and resource-based indicators. The application was tested in 60 farms (20 donkey, 20 goat and 20 horse farms) to evaluate feasibility and easiness of use. Our experience demonstrated that the app is friendly to use and practical, does not require a long training period, it is flexible and easy to modify and permits to aggregate and analyze data faster and error-free. By the end of September, the application will be further tested in about 100 farms. Future development is planned to create a dedicated app with the same characteristics that immediately provides a preliminary output of welfare status. Data will be available for further analysis on the server. The app would be useful to the development of an accessible data repository on animal welfare and to increase data and knowledge accessibility to all European countries. 41

44 Poster Assessing inter and intra-observer reliability in animal-based welfare indicators in dairy sheep Ignacia Beltrán de Heredia a, Josune Arranz a, Inma Estévez a,b, Susan Richmond c, Francoise Wemelsfelder c, Elisabetta Canali d, Cathy Dwyer c, Roberto Ruiz a a Neiker-Tecnalia, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; b Ikerbasque, Spain; c SRUC, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; d University of Milán, Italy. Sheep welfare assessment presents particular challenges related to the exposure to natural environmental conditions and to the seasonality of the breeding cycle. To assess the feasibility and limitations of an animal-based protocol for welfare indicators in dairy sheep, 30 ewes were randomly chosen according to the age structure of the flock of Neiker-Tecnalia. The selected ewes represented 23% of the flock, their age ranging from 1.5 to 8.5 years old. The animals were assessed six times during a productive cycle from July 2012 to June For each assessment, the ewes were gathered, identified and scored according to the welfare indicator protocol developed within the EU-FP7 AWIN project. Indicators assessed the general health status, sanitary conditions and lesions and injuries. A blood and a faecal sample were collected from each ewe for determination of general blood parameters and parasite burdens. To test inter and intra-observer variability, three observers assessed every sheep independently in two sequential rounds. The resulting database was analysed by means of a mixed model (Proc GLIMMIX, SAS) with Observer (O) as a fixed effect, the day (D) and the round (R) as double repeated measures. Spearman correlations were conducted to determine the relationship across parameters. Both O and D had a significant effect on body cleanliness, dag scoring, BCS and mucosa color (P<0.001). R and D were also significant for body cleanliness (P<0.001), while O*R for BCS and body cleanliness. Regarding the effect of D, sheep showed poorer conditions during final pregnancy and middle lactation, and it appeared to be related to the environmental conditions and managing procedures. There was lack of variability for many of the indicators related to general health status and sanitary conditions with a low incidence. Blood biochemical parameters were within the normal ranges throughout the whole cycle. As for parasites, Dicrocoelium and Strongilides were present in every control, but counts remained below 100 eggs/g faeces. No significant correlations were found across apparently related parameters, such as dag scoring and parasites, dag scoring and BCS, color of mucosas and haemoglobin, milk yield and SCC, or SCC and leucocites (P>0.05 in all cases). These results show that, within a single farm with consistent management, significant seasonal variation occurs. To overcome the differences between observers, more objective thresholds are required and the unification of criteria for some of these indicators. Keywords: animal based; welfare assessment; methodology; sheep; farming systems. 42

45 Poster Stakeholders input on prototype welfare assessment protocols for horses and donkeys Emanuela Dalla Costa 1, Francesca Dai 1, Leigh Margaret Anne Murray 1, Sara Barbieri 1, Lorenzo Ferrari 1, Elisabetta Canali 1, Michela Minero 1 1 Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Milan, Italy Keywords: equines, welfare, stakeholders input Emanuela.dallacosta@unimi.it Eighteen members of the Equine Network of Stakeholders participated in a workshop aimed to: increase the acceptability of the project through stimulation of a multidisciplinary dialogue; define potential barriers to the application of the prototypes in practice and identify possible solutions; facilitate the experimental phases of the project through practical support for on-farm data collection. As a follow up from the workshop, participants were engaged in an interactive forum via the Animal Welfare Hub. The meeting was held at Verona, Fieracavalli 2013, on November 7 th. Stakeholders participated in the following activities: - Good Welfare Indicators (animal, resource and management based): listing what signs one can see if an owner understands and provides what their horse/donkey needs; - Good Welfare Indicators (Traffic Lights): placing stickers of different colours on a poster showing the four welfare principles. A green sign when, in their opinion, the welfare principle was well respected, a yellow sign when it deserved attention and a red one when there were issues regarding that principle; - Pair Wise Ranking Of Animal Welfare Issues: filling in a matrix to make direct comparisons between welfare criteria; - Aims & Outcomes: completing a questionnaire about aims, who should assess equine welfare and timing of assessment. The participants showed good overall agreement about indicators. According to their opinion, all welfare principles deserve expert attention, with absence of prolonged thirst and hunger considered as the most important criteria. Unintended outcomes of welfare assessment varied much more and were representative of the interests of the different participants. Maximum time for assessing an animal varies from 5min to 30min. Participants interacted in the Forum, discussing the results of the meeting. 43

46 Poster Does the presence of abscesses affect dairy goats welfare? Sara Martins, Ana Vieira, Inês Ajuda, George Stilwell AWIN, Veterinary Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) is a bacterial disease that causes internal and external abscesses in small ruminants. The incidence of CLA is very high among farms and inside each farm. Little is known of the impact of these abscesses on the welfare of goats. A small previous study with dairy goats concluded that the presence of abscesses led to the exhibition of more oral behaviours (e.g. chewing) and more time moving around the pen. The objective of this study is to show how CLA may affect dairy goat time-budget and how it may affect welfare. The study was conducted in a large dairy farm with approximately 1300 goats in milking. In this farm CLA external abscesses are evident in over 50% of adult animals. In a pen with 140 adult milking goats, animals with and without signs of CLA were randomly allocated to two groups (n=15). All animals were subject to a thorough clinical exam and blood samples were collected to exclude other diseases. Abscesses locations were registered 13% were on the head region and 87% on the prescapular lymph-node. Animals were directly observed and filmed for three periods of one hour, once a week for three weeks. An ethogram with normal daily behaviours was prepared and filled during the observation periods and later rechecked trough video images. Animals without abscesses were seen lying down in normal position and ruminating more often than those with abscesses. In contrast, animal with abscesses were seen more time: moving, at the feed trough and exhibiting self-grooming behaviour. The analysis of the time-budget of these animals showed that goats with abscesses interrupted more often the time lying down and eating. These results suggest that animals with abscesses are more agitated and less likely to feed or rest for long periods as animals without the disease. The higher prevalence of a self-grooming behaviour may also indicate that discomfort is present with animals trying to scratch a painful area. 44

47 Poster AWIN Body Condition Scale a new tool for body condition assessment in goats Vieira. A.*, Brandão, S.**, Monteiro, A.***, Ajuda, I.* & Stilwell, G* *AWIN Veterinary Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon ** Instituto Superior Técnico University of Lisbon *** Escola Agrária - Instituto Politécnico de Viseu The objective of this work was the development of a new method to assess Body Condition Score (BCS) in dairy goats. The need for a new scale results from the fact that the traditional scoring by body palpation is time consuming and requires animal restraining and a lot of training and experience. A preliminary study identified several rump measures to be highly correlated (R2=0.8) with three BCS group scores (thin 2; normal 2>CC<3.5; fat 3.5). This work was followed by measuring and scoring around 200 animals of different breeds in six different farms. Using computer vision technology, a visual scale was developed allowing for the distinction between thin, normal and fat goats. This new AWIN scale for BCS assessment in dairy goats was tested for reliability studies in two field essays, always using four observers (two with and two without experience). In the first one 50 goats distributed in the three categories were assessed. A summary training was given to the assessors and the reliability assessed by the PABAK (Prevalance and Bias Adjusted Kappa-Ordinal Scale) value reached 0.6 among two of them. The second reliability study was performed after a more intense training of the assessors, used 52 goats and reached a PABAK value of The developing of this new and expedite way to evaluate BCS in dairy goats also showed to be very useful for the WP2 pregnancy toxaemia (PT) work. Namely, three animals that were affected by PT lowered one level on the AWIN BCS visual scale one week before presenting clinical signs. In conclusion, the new AWIN scale for BCS is a validated and reliable tool that may prove useful for researchers and for farmers wishing to monitor the nutritional and health status of their herd. 45

48 Poster Early signs of Pregnancy Toxaemia in Goats Inês Ajuda, Ana Vieira, Inês Barão, and George Stilwell Veterinary Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon, Portugal Pregnancy toxaemia (PT) is a metabolic disease affecting pregnant females at the last stage of gestation, especially when carrying multiple foetus. It is very often fatal or requires cesarean or abortion induction. The quick evolution and irreversible changes that occur, means that treatment initiated after the first clinical signs is often unrewarding. This is the reason why it is paramount to identify early signs of the disease and to establish effective prevention measures. The aim of this study was to follow up dairy goats at risk (fat goats with multiple foetus) from the moment ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis was accomplished (45 days pregnancy) to identify potential warning signs of PT. Sixty three dairy adult goats were subject to clinical examination, blood sampled for ketone bodies, glucose and cytokines, and filmed for behaviour changes at 45, 90, 120, 130, 140 and 150 days in pregnancy. All animals were also scored for body condition using the new AWIN BCS Table developed by WP1. Three animals (5%) that developed PT died after treatment with IV glucose and a forth goat died from another disease. There were no differences in ketone bodies, glucose or clinical signs between those animals that had PT and a control group with the same characteristics that survived. Although most goats had relatively high -hydroxybutirate levels there was no correlation with signs of the disease. Cytokines analysis is still ongoing. The only significant difference between groups was the quick reduction in BCS on the week before showing clinical signs. We concluded that regular BCS of does at risk is the best way to identify variations that are related to metabolic changes that lead to PT. Training farmers to use the new BC scoring table or developing technology for automatic BCS is probably the best way to fight this disease. 46

49 Poster Farmers and Veterinarians Perceptions of Lameness and Pain in Sheep Carol S Thompson 1, Kenneth M. D. Rutherford 1, Joanne Williams 2 and Adroaldo J Zanella 3 1 Scotland s Rural College (SRUC), Animal Behaviour & Welfare, Edinburgh, UK 2 School of Health in Social Science, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK 3 Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, Campus Pirassununga, SP Brazil carol.thompson@sruc.ac.uk Accurate identification of disease and pain is paramount to good animal welfare. This study aimed to assess how farmers and veterinarians perceived lameness and pain in sheep. Movie clips (20 seconds each) of four sheep with varying levels of lameness (one sound, one mildly lame and two moderate/severely lame ) were shown to farmers (n=68) and veterinarians (n=46) in order to investigate how they perceived lameness and its associated pain. After each clip, participants completed a short questionnaire, which asked them to rate, using a 100mm visual analogue scale, the level of: i) lameness (L), ii) pain (P) they felt the sheep was experiencing, and iii) their own emotional (E) response. Data were analysed (Genstat 15) using REML and Spearman Rank Correlations. Strong positive correlations were found between ratings of lameness, pain and emotional reaction for both farmers and vets (Farmers: L vs P: r=0.93, p<0.001; L vs E: r=0.81, p<0.001; P vs E: r=0.84, p< Vets: L vs P: r=0.95, p<0.001; L vs E: r=0.88, p<0.001; P vs E: r=0.91, p<0.001). As intended, there were significant differences between sheep in all variables (L: W=1529.7, p<0.001; P: W= , p<0.001; E: W=846.54, p<0.001). Analysis revealed no significant effect of profession on L (W=0.39, p=0.53), P (W=0.65, p=0.42) or E scores (W=1.86, p=0.18), and no interactions were found between Sheep and Profession. However subsequent post hoc analysis revealed that although farmers and vets scored the sound and mildly lame sheep similarly, vets scored the two moderate/severely lame sheep significantly higher than farmers for all three variables (e.g., for the most lame sheep (mean ± SE): L: Farmers=81.5±1.7, Vets=85.9±1.8, W=6.14, p=0.015; P: Farmers=74.3±2.3, Vets=80.9±1.9, W=7.57, p=0.007; E: Farmers=60.3±3.1, Vets=71.8±3.1, W=8.06, p=0.005). These results indicate that participants view lameness as a painful condition. However, for the moderate/severely lame sheep, the ratings provided by vets were significantly higher than those provided by farmers. This may have important implications for decision making surrounding treatment. Farmers threshold for treatment may be higher than vets, which could have consequences for the health and welfare of lame sheep. 47

50 Poster Work developed by Workpackage 2 in Portugal Inês Ajuda, Ana Vieira and George Stilwell Veterinary Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon, Portugal ines_sos@hotmail.com In order to report pain and its impact on goat welfare in chronic and acute diseases and after routine procedures, WP2 Portugal has been focusing on studying udder health, pregnancy toxemia, claw overgrowth and kid disbudding. 1- Udder health For the final welfare assessment protocol being developed by WP1, udder asymmetry was the indicator selected to evaluate udder lesions and associated pain. There is still no evidence that udder asymmetry is directly connected to udder health or that it causes pain, but we have confirmed that it is the main udder health problem and so essential for welfare assessment in dairy goat farms. Work is being done to investigate the relationship between udder asymmetry and the occurrence of clinical mastitis so that it can be used as a reliable indicator of farms udder health history. On the other hand it may indicate inadequate milking routine and serve as an indicator of bad management. Finally it is important to assess if it is associated with fibrosis that causes chronic pain, especially during milking. 2- Pregnancy toxaemia Due to the high mortality rate of this disease, we have decided to do a prospective study in order to perceive the indicators that could help predict the appearance of the disease. We evaluated sixty animals that were classified as risk animals (high BCS and more than one foetus) as to: body condition score (BCS), ketone bodies and glucose levels, Qualitive Behaviour Assessment, lameness and serum pain biomarkers. Although only three animals developed clinical disease, we verified that all of them decreased BCS by one point on the week before presenting clinical signs. We will now analyse the blood for substance P and possibly for cytokines, being the animal its own control. Preliminary results show that constant BCS of pregnant goats is an early, easy and inexpensive way to identify animals developing Pregnancy Toxaemia. 3- Lameness Claw overgrowth is the main cause for lameness in dairy goat farms due to the lack of claw wear. Lack of regular trimming worsens the situation. We have been developing several studies using indicators as a lameness scale, thermography, and hopefully in the future pain biomarkers, to perceive, not only the impact of the overgrowth, but also to perceive the importance of having a 3 level scale of claw overgrowth classification, and the impact of trimming. We have found some interesting results that will be presented during the conference. 4- Disbudding Hot iron disbudding is a routine procedure performed in the majority of intensive dairy goat farms. Two protocols with local anaesthesia with or without an anti-inflammatory drug were tested. These protocols both revealed to be laborious and complex, and did not result in major differences in behaviour, when compared to animals that did not receive any kind of treatment to mitigate pain. Due to these results we will try a protocol with ketamine. In the mean time we have been testing the differences on behaviour, duration of contact with the hot iron and efficiency of the procedure in kids with different ages (7 days, 15 days, 20 days and 30 days). 48

51 Poster The Animal Welfare Science Hub: a repository of courses in animal welfare at various levels Judit Vas 1, Bjarne O Braastad 1, Donald M Broom 1,2, Pericles V Gomes 3, Adroaldo J Zanella 4, Fritha M Langford 5, Andreia De Paula Vieira 3 1 Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway 2 University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 3 Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 4 Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 5 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK In a part of the Animal Welfare Science Hub, ( courses related to any field of animal welfare are listed and prepared for efficient web browsing. Users of any level (school age children, animal owners, professionals working for the animal industry, students, veterinarians and animal scientists) are able to search for courses that are being offered worldwide. They can find online or face-to-face courses locally and internationally, filter the search by species, target audience, price and time requirements of programmes. This section is unique in being global regarding geographical distribution, including programmes in national languages, for a wide range of possible audiences and still being user-friendly by different filter options and personal preferences. In this way students can benefit from the Hub by easily finding proper courses that they can attend from home when online or downloaded, or choose the most appropriate teaching program to apply for. On the other hand, teachers and course organisers have the opportunity on the Hub to advertise their online and other courses. The advantage of this is that the list remains up to date as course organisers can edit the entries as courses evolve over time. Many course materials are now available to share. In cooperation with the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE) teaching programmes will be evaluated by objective expert panels based on their pedagogic and scientific value according to the intended audience. We have developed a review process for this and instructions for reviewers. This course overview is a further development of the earlier Virtual Animal Welfare Library developed at Norwegian University of Life Sciences in 2009 ( 49

52 Poster Learning objects in animal pain: effect on learning and attitudes towards animal pain Karen Hiestand 1, Adroaldo J Zanella 2, Andreia De Paula Vieira 3, Pericles Varella Gomes 3, Donald M Broom 4,5, Bjarne O Braastad 4, Judit Vas 4, Fritha M Langford 1,6 1 The University of Edinburgh, UK 2 Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 3 Universidade de Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 4 Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås, Norway 5 University of Cambridge, U.K. 6 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK Effective pain management can improve the quality of care in both humans and other animals. Assessment and recognition of pain are critical steps in providing good pain management for medical and veterinary patients. Therefore, introducing and increasing education specifically about pain recognition, assessment and treatment into the veterinary curricula has been recommended to mitigate barriers that prevent good pain alleviation. Digital Learning Objects (LO), are being increasingly used in veterinary education and are helpful media that can circumvent common constraints (e.g. teaching time, resource and expertise) that often limit adequate pain education provision. The AWIN Work Package 4 has developed a LO on feline chronic pain, and veterinary students were able to evaluate the effectiveness of LOs against traditional presentation of comparable material in a randomised, single-blinded controlled trial. Six UK veterinary schools participated entirely online with a response rate of 22% (n=649). Participants first completed a pre-questionnaire consisting of demographic information, prior knowledge about feline pain, attitudes to animal pain and confidence and experience evaluating feline pain. Students were then randomly supplied with either an LO or a.pdf document. Post-questionnaires were completed to assess 1) knowledge transfer, 2) attitude change towards pain assessment, 3) attitude towards the different learning media tested and respective perception of learning. As previously reported in other studies, the LO and traditional methods were found no differences among the LO and the.pdf file in terms of knowledge transfer. For example, respondents were 2.3 times more likely to correctly identify the most common cause of chronic pain after learning interventions (95% CI ; p<0.001) with no statistical difference between intervention type. Content retention was assessed after two months and respondents remained twice as likely to answer this question correctly for both learning media (95% CI ; p<0.001). Students responded more favourably to interaction with the LO compared with.pdf presentations, as in their perception they learned more (χ 2 =5.281, p=0.02) most likely due to a more interactive exposure to content (χ 2 =17.24, p<0.001). After receiving instruction on pain, the belief that various species are able to experience pain similarly to humans increased significantly, particularly in LO respondents (Wald, F (1,629) =15.67, p=0.02). This study further validates use of LOs for veterinary students and confirms its appropriateness for education of pain in animals. 50

53 Poster Producing digital learning materials on animal pain Fritha Langford 1, Jill MacKay 1 Lucy Oldham 1, Adroaldo J Zanella 2, Pericles Varella Gomes 3, Donald M Broom 4,5, Bjarne O Braastad 4, Judit Vas 4, Andreia De Paula Vieira 3 1 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK 2 Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 3 Universidade de Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 4 Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås, Norway 5 University of Cambridge, U.K. Despite the importance of effective pain management for good welfare of both humans and other animals, inadequacies remain in pain recognition and treatment in medical and veterinary fields. National and international veterinary associations such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have developed a list of day-one competencies for veterinarians, which include the promotion of animal health and welfare. In Europe and elsewhere, there is increasing education specifically about pain recognition, assessment and treatment within veterinary curricula. There is evidence to suggest that some veterinary students find didactic methods of teaching less useful then more problem-solving or student-centred methods. AWIN WP4 has developed a suite of interactive Learning Objects (LOs) to be used as a complementary teaching tool for veterinary education on animal pain. The LOs are built using Articulate Storyline software, which is compatible with all internet browsers and the HTML5 framework. The LOs use a mixture of text, photographs, audio and videos and quizzes to guide students through increasingly challenging situations to assist teaching on each of the following subjects: 1. What is animal pain? 2. How is animal pain produced? 3. How is animal pain assessed? 4. Attitudes to animal pain 5. How is animal pain treated? These LOs can be used individually, or as a group, with each LO taking approximately 30 minutes for a user to undertake. The LOs have been designed to complement the early years veterinary education but can also be used by animal science students, veterinary nurse students, or as a revision tool for later year veterinary students. The LOs are available to view on the Animal Welfare Science Hub ( and also to download for free to be used by students or by veterinary teachers. These LOs have been piloted by students in the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (R(D)SVS, Edinburgh, UK) with initial qualitative evaluations being very positive. Further quantitative evaluations will be carried out in

54 Poster The Animal Welfare Science Hub: an open content management system that enhances animal welfare education and research Lucas R. Maturo 1, Alessandro G. Viana 1, Pericles V. Gomes 1, Adroaldo J. Zanella 2, Fritha M. Langford 3, Donald M. Broom 4, Bjarne O. Braastad 5, Judit B. Vas 5, Andreia De Paula Vieira 1 1 Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 2 Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 3 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK 4 University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 5 Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway The Animal Welfare Science Hub ( is an open content management system that facilitates and promotes collaboration and sharing of materials for animal welfare teaching, learning, outreach and research purposes. The Hub was built using a.net framework and is a platform for users to keep abreast of the latest animal welfare information available in the world. The Hub facilitates training via webinars and learning objects and helps users solve dilemmas involving animal welfare in a collaborative and interactive environment. AWIN is seeking content to be hosted by the Hub, e.g., courses, videos, animations, mobile Apps and 3-D simulations among others, which are portable, have good usability and applicability and is of high instructional quality. All Hub instructional materials undergo independent external review by members of the International Society of Applied Ethology (ISAE) to ensure that everything presented is scientifically valid, educationally effective and user-friendly. All courses and learning materials advertised in the Hub are accessible to instructors in the classroom or online, by students and other interested parties worldwide. Authors will give the Hub permission to share and advertise materials and will follow their review process in the Hub. After being accepted, the shared materials will be promptly available for Hub users free of charge. Users are also free to remove their shared materials from the platform whenever they wish, by self-managing their Hub account. The Hub also allows users to initiate discussions, be informed about the latest animal welfare news and share their views. In addition, Hub users can consult a research database that contains educational resources and the latest published animal welfare research. The Hub enables users to create online surveys, find out about upcoming events on animal welfare issues, learn about jobs and funding opportunities in their areas of expertise, download relevant mobile Apps and share welfare-relevant animal photographs. 52

55 Poster Evaluation of digital learning objects on pain recognition for veterinary students: nationality and study-stage effects Tae Sugano 1, Adroaldo J Zanella 2, Andreia De Paula Vieira 3, Pericles Varella Gomes 3, Donald M Broom 4,5, Bjarne O Braastad 4, Judit Vas 4, Fritha M Langford 1,6 1 The University of Edinburgh, UK 2 Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 3 Universidade de Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 4 Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås, Norway 5 University of Cambridge, UK 6 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK A fundamental part of practicing good veterinary medicine, is to acquire good knowledge on pain recognition, assessment and mitigation. To facilitate this, a digital learning object (LO) on animal pain, provided online, that included visual and sound aids was created. Identical versions in both English and Japanese languages were created and their learning effectiveness for veterinary students was tested. Differences in perception of pain in animals among veterinary students by year of study and nationality were examined using separate study groups. Students from the first and final year in Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (R(D)SVS) and the second and final year in a Japanese veterinary school were chosen as study groups. The students were invited to answer an online questionnaire which consisted of a pre-test (either the LO or reading material (RM) control) and a post-test. The questions in the pre- and post-tests were related to knowledge, recognition, assessment of and attitude to pain in animals, related to contents of the LO and RM. The effectiveness of the LO/RM with the UK students was investigated by the change of their responses from pre- to post-test. The responses of pre-test from four study groups were compared in order to look into their differences. Although knowledge and attitudes differed from pre- to post test, there were no significant differences between LO and RM in knowledge and attitudes post-test. However, the LO seemed to have a positive effect on the students emotional experience (95% CI, ; P=0.06). In respect of the students perception, the differences between the years of study were seen in UK students but not in Japanese students. The final year students in R(D)SVS were more likely to express positive attitudes towards pain alleviation than three other study groups (p<0.05). The results suggest that the students perception of pain in animals is greatly influenced by what they have learnt during the veterinary curriculum. The importance of extra teaching in the form of LOs, may be in encouraging interaction with the subject matter and altering values. 53

56 Poster The HGS (Horse Grimace Scale) App: a mobile solution that trains users to assess pain in horses Matheus V de B. Santos 1, Pericles V Gomes 1, Hugo M Hulle 1, Jehnifer Rinaldin 1, Michele Farran 1, Rafael Dubiela 1, Michelle Aguiar 1, Diana Stucke 2, Dirk Lebelt 2, Emanuela Dalla Costa 3, Michela Minero 3, Adroaldo J Zanella 4, Fritha M Langford 5, Donald M Broom 6, Bjarne O Braastad 7, Judit Vas 7, Andreia De Paula Vieira 1 1 Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 2 Havelland Equine Clinic, Beetzsee, Germany 3 Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy 4 Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 5 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK 6 University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 7 Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway The recognition, assessment and management of painful conditions are paramount for good horse welfare. Surgical and other pain are quite commonly experienced by horses but, for appropriate pain relief to be provided it is crucial that veterinarians, farmers, horse owners, and riders are able to recognise pain in a reliable way. To meet this need, the Horse Grimace Scale Smartphone Application (HGS App), was developed by AWIN WP4 to teach users to recognize and then assess pain in horses using facial expressions (scientifically validated by AWIN researchers: Dalla Costa et al., 2014). The user of the HGS App follows these three steps: 1) Via an introductory video, HGS App users are able to learn about the theoretical basis of the HGS: the definition of pain, the relevance of monitoring pain and the issue of measuring pain in animals; 2) After learning about the HGS concept, users are able to train themselves to properly score horses via pictures until they are confident enough to score pain in live horses; 3) After the training, users are able to obtain information from live horses and keep track of their facial expressions in the smartphone database. The HGS App is available for devices that use the Android operating system. The usability of the interface was tested, and testers were asked to interact with the interface and comment on the functioning of the software. According to Nielsen (1993), 90% of interface problems can be found with as few as 6 testers. All interactions were video recorded. In general, the HGS App was very well accepted and testers were able to use the interface and perform the task to be carried out. After the test, a list of 9 minor interface problems was generated from the usage observations. The test took about 20 minutes to be carried out, per tester. To allow testers to perform the scoring task, a picture of a standing horse with a grimacing face was presented. Most of the interface problems found by testers were related to 1) entering information for a new horse prior to scoring and 2) issues related to the graphic interpretation of the pain scale. After correcting interface issues, AWIN WP4 officially launched the HGS App in May We aim to test the App once more to validate it from an educational standpoint among users from all AWIN partnering countries. Dalla Costa, E.; Minero, M., Lebelt, D.; Stucke, D.; Canali, E. and Leach, M. C Development of the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) as a Pain Assessment Tool in Horses Undergoing Routine Castration. Plos One, v. 9, i. 3, e Nielsen, J., Usability Engineering, Discount Usabilty Engineering, AP Professional. 54

57 Poster Digital learning materials on assessing pain and disease in sheep Fritha Langford 1, Jill MacKay 1, Carol Thompson 1, Adroaldo J Zanella 2, Pericles Varella Gomes 3, Donald M Broom 4,5, Bjarne O Braastad 4, Judit Vas 4, Andreia De Paula Vieira 3, Murray J Corke 5, Carlos J Rebelo 5, Krista M McLennan 5 1 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK 2 Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 3 Universidade de Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 4 Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås, Norway 5 University of Cambridge, U.K. Sheep are very stoical animals and will mask overt pain behaviours, especially in the presence of perceived threats. As a consequence, recognising and assessing pain in sheep can be difficult and this may result in painful conditions going untreated. There are many potentially painful conditions for sheep, including infectious diseases, such as foot rot. AWIN research is identifying welfare indicators of pain and disease in sheep. A series of interactive, digital Learning Objects (LOs) are being produced in Articulate Storyline, a virtual training platform with the aim of providing learning for veterinary students, veterinarians in practice and farmers on 1) the issue of pain in sheep and 2) Pain recognition and assessment to better diagnose and treat pain. There will be three LOs and a final case study interactive element. The three LOs will allow users to learn about the following indicators: 1) Scoring the severity of foot rot lesions in sheep; 2) Scoring lameness in sheep with foot rot (including work on attitudes to pain in sheep of farmers and veterinarians); 3) Scoring facial expressions of pain from sheep with or without foot rot. Each LO consists of text, photographs, videos and audio descriptions to help users understand the scientific results presented. At the end of each LO there is a series of quizzes to help with recall and build on knowledge of the scoring systems. The user can move forward and backward through the LO at their own pace to enable them to revise the topics as they wish. The LO is built to be used in all current web-browsers and on HTML5 framework supporting devices. The interactive case study will allow the users to practice all of their skills and abilities with all of the scoring systems on videos of sheep that may, or may not, be suffering from painful foot rot. This LO is to be evaluated by veterinary students at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge and tested by veterinarians that specialize on sheep care. The results will be presented in

58 Poster Digital learning materials on the behavioural development of goats Fritha Langford 1, Jill MacKay 1, Sarah Hall 1, Adroaldo J Zanella 2,, Pericles Varella Gomes 3, Donald M Broom 4,5, Bjarne O Braastad 4, Judit Vas 4, Andreia De Paula Vieira 3, Rachel Chojnacki 4. 1 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK 2 Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 3 Universidade de Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 4 Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås, Norway 5 University of Cambridge, U.K. At present there is a lack of easily accessible educational resources on goat development or goat welfare. AWIN has identified physiological and behavioural factors that affect goat development and goat welfare. A pair of interactive digital Learning Objects (LOs) are being produced in Articulate Storyline, a virtual training platform, to address the following: 1) The cognitive development of goats using the example of an object permanence test. 2) The effect of cortisol as a measure of welfare in the developing goat. The first LO is aimed at a general audience interested in behavioural science and incorporates text, videos, audio descriptions and a virtual experiment to help the audience understand both the scientific method and the results the experiments generate. It includes a quiz to build on knowledge and act as a point of recall for the learning process. The second LO is aimed at a scientific audience, particularly at those interested in understanding the use, methodologies and pitfalls of cortisol analysis to understand stress and welfare, using the goat as an example species. The LO uses a three-act structure to explain goat development using the example of how the physiological measure of cortisol can be incorporated to assess welfare and the implications of using this measurement in goat welfare assessment. Text, videos, audio descriptions and an interactive process chart help the audience to understand the results presented. It can therefore be used as a quick guide to cortisol and welfare assessment in goats for scientists. The LOs are built to be used in all current web-browsers and on HTML5 framework supporting devices. This LO is to be evaluated in

59 Poster Digital learning materials on lamb survival Fritha Langford 1, Jill MacKay 1, Emma Baxter 1, Cathy Dwyer 1, Xavier Averós 2, Inma Estévez 2, Adroaldo J Zanella 3, Pericles Varella Gomes 4, Donald M Broom 5,6, Bjarne O Braastad 5, Judit Vas 5, Andreia De Paula Vieira 4 1 SRUC, Edinburgh, UK 2 Neiker Tecnalia, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain 3 Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 4 Universidade de Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 5 Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås, Norway 6 University of Cambridge, U.K. The ewe-lamb bond, maternal behaviours and lamb vigour in the first 2-3 hours after birth are all vital to ensure the survival of lambs to weaning and beyond (Dwyer, 2008). However, sheep farmers and stockpeople often focus on other issues such as predation risk or parasite burdens, which they might perceive as more preventable problems. In AWIN we have investigated the factors during a ewe s pregnancy that influence the ewe-lamb bond and the associated behaviours. The results have confirmed the earlier results and have improved our knowledge of the ideal husbandry of pregnant ewes. An interactive, digital Learning Object (LO) has been produced in Articulate Storyline with the aim of providing information for farmers, stockpeople, agriculture students and animal scientists on the importance of the ewe-lamb bond, lamb survival and the factors that influence these. The LO includes: 1) training on using the LO, 2) an introduction to the topic, 3) detailed information on important lamb behaviours that influence survival, 4) recent research on the factors during pregnancy that affect ewelamb bonds, and 5) details of practical scoring systems to be used during lambing. The LO consists of text, photographs, videos and audio descriptions to help users to understand the scientific results presented. At the end of the LO there is a series of quizzes to help with recall and build on knowledge. The user can move forward and backward through the LO at their own pace to enable them to revise the topics if they wish. The LO is built to be used in all current web-browsers and on HTML5-framework supporting devices. This LO is to be evaluated by animal science and agriculture students from SRUC and later by focus groups of Scottish sheep farmers. The results will be presented in

60 Poster Facial expressions of pain in horses: the Horse Grimace Scale learning object Gary James 4, Jesse Fritz 4, Emanuela Dalla Costa 1, Michela Minero 1, Diana Stucke 2, Dirk Lebelt 2, Andreia De Paula Vieira 3, Robert Malinowski 4 1 Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy 2 Havelland Equine Clinic, Beetzsee, Germany 3 Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil 4 Michigan State University, Michigan, USA Pain identification is important in order to avoid poor welfare of horses involved in sport, animal assisted therapy, leisure and companionship. However, pain has not been sufficiently addressed in previous welfare evaluation protocols for equine species. This learning object (LO) was developed collaboratively by UMIL, the Havelland Clinic and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University (MSU). The goal of this LO is to transfer knowledge about pain occurrence in horses, pain assessment and facial expressions of pain using the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS). The target audiences of this LO are veterinarians, students of Veterinary Medicine, horse owners and riders. In order to develop this LO, a storyboard was prepared with a detailed description of the development of the LO with sections about previous scientific knowledge, made user-friendly, together with photos and a video collected during farm visits. An institutional video was also recorded to present to the public the AWIN researchers that validated the HGS. The LO was then processed by researchers at Michigan State University and converted to a web-based format using Adobe Presenter. The user navigates a menu comprising sections on Facial expression of pain, Assess your knowledge and Learn more about pain/recognizing a horse in pain. The section Facial expression of pain describes the background of the method, starting from the idea of Darwin on the expression of emotions in men and animals. It reports on the study carried out by AWIN researchers on the HGS. In the Assess your knowledge section, the user is asked to score pictures of horses with or without pain and can interact freely with the different sections of the LO. Learn more about pain/recognizing a horse in pain describes pain-related behaviour in horses with videos and pictures and other methods to assess pain in horses, e.g. the Composite Pain Scale. This LO will be freely available on the Animal Welfare Hub ( from May Dalla Costa, E.; Minero, M., Lebelt, D.; Stucke, D.; Canali, E. and Leach, M. C Development of the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) as a Pain Assessment Tool in Horses Undergoing Routine Castration. Plos One, v. 9, i. 3, e

61 Welfare Indicators (AWIN) Consortium members are; SRUC (Coordinator) Scotland's Rural College delivers comprehensive skills, education and business support for Scotland s land-based industries, founded on world class and sector-leading research, education and consultancy. SRUC has a dedicated Animal Behaviour and Welfare research team. The main research themes of the Animal Behaviour and Welfare team are: understanding behavioural development in animals and the development of scientifically valid, practical and reliable methods of welfare assessment. The team has close links with academic and industrial collaborators and can access a range of farm systems operated by SRUC which are equipped for behavioural and welfare studies. SRUC participation in AWIN is supported by the Scottish Government. NMBU NMBU's research is enabling people all over the world to tackle the big, global challenges regarding the environment, sustainable development, how to improve human and animal health, renewable energy sources, food production, and land- and resource management. Our interdisciplinary research generates innovations in food, health, environmental protection, climate and sustainable use of natural resources. When viewed as a whole, these elements create a foundation for sustainable living in tomorrow s world. UMilano The University of Milan is a public, multidisciplinary teaching and research institution that offers 8 Faculties, 2 Schools, 136 study courses, 31 Doctoral Programmes and 63 Specialisation Schools. Our 2000 professors represent the highest concentration of scientific expertise in the region and our research is ranked among the best in Italy and Europe. The Department of Veterinary Sciences and Public Health (divet) conducts research and teaching in the field of veterinary medicine, public health and food safety. The objective is to promote the health and welfare of animals and humans, including their interaction with the environment. Neiker-Tecnalia Neiker-Tecnalia, Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development, Civil Society is a nonprofit organization attached to the Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness. Neiker- Tecnalia is committed to the following objectives of R & D: - Improving productivity and competitiveness of agricultural production systems. - Develop and implement new technologies in farm management. - To meet the quality requirements of the food processing industry and the general consumer. The production animal department develops projects related to the improvement, characterization and optimization of livestock systems aimed at obtaining quality products through sustainable use of local resources. 59

62 Positivo Universidade Positivo engages in high quality research, education and innovation. We have teams that are directly involved with large corporations to produce competitive outcomes for our students. University of Cambridge Department of veterinary medicine The Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge is at the forefront of veterinary science and education and is a centre of excellence for teaching and research. We are a large, multidisciplinary department whose scientific activities are fully integrated into those of the whole University. Our mission is to improve the prevention and treatment of diseases of animals by defining and applying best clinical practice, by understanding and developing the science underpinning best practice, and by embedding an education programme in the veterinary sciences that delivers the best veterinary practitioners, academics and research scientists. Lisbon FMV The aim of FMV is to "work for the quality and development of the Country in the area of Animal Sciences, in particular in the area of Veterinary Sciences". The Interdisciplinary Centre of Research in Animal Health (CIISA) coordinates the research and development activities of FMV in articulation with the strategies defined by the Scientific Council. The research areas of CIISA comprise: Veterinary Sciences Agrarian Sciences Health Sciences Biotechnology Aquatic and marine Sciences Indiana University Dept of psychological and brain sciences The Wellman lab is examining the effects of chronic stress and stress hormones on behaviours mediated by prefrontal cortex, as well as the changes in neural pharmacology and morphology that underlie these effects. We have demonstrated that both chronic stress and exposure to the stress hormone corticosterone reorganize dendrites of neurons in prefrontal cortex. We are now beginning to more fully characterize these effects, assess their functional significance, and elucidate mechanisms underlying them. IASPARAGUE The Institute pursues international cooperation of a high standard and is in permanent contacts with world knowledge in all areas of its theoretical and practical specialization. It is reflected in gradual changes in methods of scientific work. Molecular techniques have become the priority without which contemporary research on biological fundamentals of animal production cannot exist. Results of research are successfully published in renowned scientific and professional journals. 60

63 Special purpose farm, experimental slaughterhouse, stables for physiological and metabolic experiments, feed mixtures-processing plant and laboratories with skilled staff and high technical equipment serve for experimental and research activities. As of 1 January 2013, at the Institute worked 226 employees, including 123 with a university education (of which 73 researchers with scientific degrees, including 7 professors, 8 associate professors and 19 PhD students), 48 technical staff and 55 blue-collar workers working in the experimental farm and related operations. Pferdeklinik, Havelland Equine Clinic Pferdeklink wants to offer our clients a contemporary medical round care for their horses. In addition to the use of the latest medical practice, this includes specialist training for our veterinarians. USP Since its founding in 1919, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science ( FMVZ ) has as one of its main objectives to train highly qualified to research and work in the field of veterinary medicine professionals.additionally, extension services to the community involve annual attendance of about 60,000 animals and 70,000 laboratory tests to aid the veterinary diagnosis. It consists of six departments: Surgery, Medical Clinic of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, Animal Breeding, Pathology and Animal Production and Nutrition. Account with the museum of animal anatomy, specialized library, veterinary hospital serving pets and small and large outpatient facility for wild birds and laboratory tests. Acknowledgment The AWIN consortium wishes to thank the EU VII Framework program (FP7-KBBE ) for financing Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project, The management team is grateful to all partners and stakeholders for their valued participation and collaboration. 61

64 Animal @Awinproject